Hot Meadville bats lead Dogs to 16-6 victory

Apr. 16—Meadville's offense was locked in during Monday's 16-6 Region 5 win against Corry.

The Bulldogs only needed four innings at the plate to earn the mercy-rule win at Eldred Glen. Meadville out-hit Corry 15-3 and scored seven or more runs in an inning twice.

The Corry Beavers struck first, though. Corry loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the first before Meadville turned a double play on a ground ball. The Beavers scored on the play, but pitcher Ryan Reichel forced a ground out in the next at bat to avoid any further damage.

In the bottom of the second, Meadville exploded for seven runs. The 'Dogs hammered three doubles, three singles and a home run from catcher Bradyn Miller. When it was all said and done, Meadville led 8-1 after two innings of action.

"Our offensive approaches were finally where we were trying to get," Meadville head coach Tony Tartaglione said. "We knew coming into this game that we can hit and we wanted to score runs to limit pitching. We have four games this week and for the most part our gameplan, due to our hitting, took place today. I'm happy with that."

Corry was able to score twice in the third inning and three times in the fourth inning. The Beavers walked on base nine times in the two-inning stretch as Tartaglione worked though a group of young pitchers.

After Reichel — a senior — exited the game, three freshmen saw time on the mound.

"Ryan Reichel gave us the start we wanted. I'd have like to seen him finish that third inning, but he did a good job. Max Carr is a freshmen, he came in for really only his second varsity appearance. He came in and did well enough," Tartaglione said. "Paulie Phillis came in and had three walks. I know he is a better pitcher than that but it was his first varsity appearance and sometimes you get caught up in the moment.

"Ian Miller, freshman, we put him it to limit him to 25 pitches and he did a good job. I can't ask for much more than that."

It was Ian Miller that finished the game for the Bulldogs. He forced the final three outs in the top of the fifth inning to keep Meadville ahead by 10 runs and reach mercy-rule status.

To reach that point, Meadville scored eight runs in the bottom of the fourth.

Despite having two outs, Aiden Kleist hit a fly ball and reached first on an error. His deep shot to left field allowed AJ Feleppa and Cam Arpin to score. Singles from Henry DeSantis-Biggs, Jacoby Thompson and Rocco Tartaglione helped add to the lead.

DeSantis-Biggs was 4-for-4 on the day with a double. Thompson was 3-for-3 and Tartaglione hit 3-for-4 with two doubles. Bradyn Miller was 2-for-3 with one home run and three RBIs.

The win brought Meadville's win total to five and extended its undefeated streak. The Bulldogs are 3-0 in region action and will play at Warren today for another region battle.

"It's a scrappy bunch of kids this year. They never give up. We've won some tight games, but they knew we needed to clean up some things at the plate and I think tonight was a good start," Tartaglione said. "Our approaches were better and we scattered a lot of hits tonight. I'm happy with that."

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Corry (6)

(AB-R-H-BI) Chamberlain 2-3-1-0, Moon 1-0-1-1, Ehrhart 2-0-0-1, Gantz 2-0-0-1, Jackson 2-0-0-0, Hellyer 3-0-0-0, Kurlowech 2-0-0-0, Swan 2-1-0-0, Frisina 2-2-1-0. Totals 18-6-3-3.

Meadville (16)

(AB-R-H-BI) I. Miller 3-2-1-1, Tartaglione 4-2-3-4, Anderson 3-1-0-0, B. Miller 3-1-2-3, DeSantis-Biggs 4-1-4-2, Arpin 2-1-0-1, Feleppa 3-1-1-1, Kleist 2-3-1-0, Thompson 3-2-3-2. Totals 27-16-15-14.

Meadville 102 30x x — 6 3 1

Corry 081 7xx x — 16 15 2

BATTING

2B: C — Moon; M — Tartaglione 2, Feleppa, DeSantis-Biggs, I. Miller.

HR: M — B. Miller.

PITCHING

(IP-H-R-ER-SO-BB) C — Moon LP 3-11-9-9-3-1, Swan 1-4-7-0-4-0; M — R. Reichel WP 2.1-3-3-3-2-2, Carr 1-0-2-2-1-3, Phillis 0.0-0-1-1-0-3, I. Miller 1.2-0-0-0-1-1.

Alex Topor can be reached at (814) 724-6370 or by email at atopor@meadvilletribune.com.