HS Baseball: Halford, Plesnarski muscle Minersville past Nativity
Minersville's Nolan Plesnarski throws a pitch during a Schuylkill League Division II baseball game at Nativity's multipurpose field. The Battlin' Miners defeated the Hilltoppers 4-1 and Plesnarski earned the win (Photo by Kelly Wiley).
POTTSVILLE — The battery of Minersville certainly brought the power.
For those not familiar, the battery of a baseball team refers to the pitcher-catcher combination.
A.J. Halford, the Battlin’ Miners senior catcher, and starting pitcher Nolan Plesnarski were key as Minersville defeated Nativity 4-1 in a Schuylkill League Division II baseball game Thursday at Nativity’s multipurpose field.
“Just throwing strikes, getting up in counts and keeping the pitch count low.” Plesnarski said about his keys to success on the hill. “Just pitching to contact a little bit. I was feeling good. I thought as the game went on; I was starting to throw harder. And the stuff is working better, so I just felt really good.”
Plesnarski, a junior right-hander, threw a complete game, struck out eight, allowed one run on six hits and collected the win for the Battlin’ Miners. And that wasn’t all. The junior righty was responsible for pushing Minersville’s first run across in the bottom of the first after grounding into a fielder’s choice, scoring Logan Hutsko from third base and Cam Rogers second. The Hilltoppers tried to turn a double play but couldn’t successfully complete it, and the heads-up baserunning from Rogers to not hesitate when rounding third base paid dividends.
The Battlin’ Miners led 2-0 after the first inning as Plesnarski sat the top of Nativity’s lineup down 1-2-3.
Plesnarski might not have had his top-notch stuff for Minersville, but the junior powered through with a fundamental defense behind him.
“I don’t think Nolan had his best stuff today, but he competed out there,” Minersville coach Shane Spotts said. “Any time you can throw a complete game and not walk anybody in high school baseball, you’re going to give yourself a chance. And he relied on his defenders out there.
“We did a nice job today making most of the plays, I believe we only had one error. That’s big for any team to play clean baseball. But Nolan did a nice job of getting himself out of jams. He bowed his neck at the right times, and he threw well today.”
The Battlin’ Miners kept the offense rolling into the second inning with a two-out rally to push across another pair of runs and lead 4-0. Logan Hutsko hit a line drive into left field for his second hit of the ballgame and Cam Rogers worked an eight-pitch walk to put two runners aboard. Halford came to the plate and unleashed a drive into the gap in right field that scored Rogers and Hutsko.
Halford also managed the game defensively for the Miners from behind the plate. He threw out Nativity’s Nate Cooper trying to steal second base in the bottom half of the second inning with a missile to second basemen Easton Schultz. Cooper was courtesy running for Hilltoppers’ catcher Tommy Bartashus, who singled to center field.
While the Hilltoppers tried to string together hits and put a crooked number on the board, Minersville’s rolling offense went dormant. Both squads went scoreless through the third, fourth and fifth innings. A pitcher’s duel of sorts began as Nativity’s Nick Wagner settled in and Plesnarski continued to deal for the Miners.
Nativity got on the board in the bottom half of the sixth inning after Ryan Examitas singled to center field and scored Stephen Karinch. Karinch reached base on an error before Zeno Rugh followed with a single up the middle. Plesnarski added back-to-back strikeouts to end the frame.
Minersville didn’t push across any insurance runs in the top of the seventh inning, but none were called for. Plesnarski added a backwards K to begin the bottom of the seventh and infielders Garrett Sukeena and Owen Fortna each had putouts for the Battlin’ Miners on the left side of the infield.
Minersville’s battery powered the Miners to a 4-1 victory as they begin the season undefeated in four games.
“That big two-out double there was great,” Spotts said. “A.J. (Halford) is our leader. He’s the leader of our ballclub behind the plate, in the dugout and everywhere. We did what we had to do those first couple innings, we put the ball in play and put the pressure on (Nativity). I thought we left off the gas a little bit then, but we’ll work on that.
