DEVON, PA — That win right there may have just saved the season for Devon Prep.
The Tide, another “Delco-ish” team who as our writing staff continues to grow we will continue to cover more like Friends Central, Malvern Prep, etc were staring at a 1-6 PCL record as they trailed a very good Conwell-Egan team 4-2 heading into the bottom of the seventh.
Facing a future D1 arm in Brady Guzzie, the Tide needed a spark. Alex Hannah was the right man for the job, as he laced a two-run walk-off single to center field to shock the Eagles and get Devon back in the win column.
Conwell-Egan struck first in the top of the first off of Devon Prep starter John Doogan, who is actually a Delco Baseball Now podcast alum after his time with the Broomall-Newtown Babe Ruth team, one of a good amount of Delco guys on this team.
Devon would get that run back a bit later in the bottom of the third when Christian Leckman singled in Austin Conaty, who singled to lead off the inning.
It looked like Conwell-Egan was going to be in control of this game when they plated three runs in the top of the fifth including a double from Guzzie, but the Tide weren’t on board with that plan.
Devon got one of those runs back on an RBI single from Hudson Swan (incredible name) who scored Conaty, who singled for the second time in the game.
The real drama in this game came in the final frame with the Tide having three outs to play with and two runs to tie, with reliever Keegan Johnson coming into the game for the Eagles.
Before getting into that action it is also important to note the relief effort from Devin reliever Billy Degler, who stranded the bases loaded in the seventh. This rally doesn’t happen without that.
Swan led off the inning with a walk, and then Broomall native and rising star sophomore catcher Caleb Flannery was hit by a pitch to put the tying run on base.
Christian Leckman then delivered the hit that really put the pressure on, singling to load up the bases with still nobody out in the inning.
It seemed like that may have gotten to Johnson a bit, as he walked Chase Lubker on four pitches to make it a 4-3 game with the tying run just 90 feet away.
Johnson was able to get a pop out for the first out, making things a little more tense as a double play could now end this game.
Alex Hannah made sure that didn’t happen, though, as he took a 2-0 pitch up the middle to walk this game off, scoring Flannery and Leckman to shock the previously 4-3 Eagles and, quite frankly, keep Devon’s playoff hopes alive.
The Tide have some upcoming games against Delco teams so we will see them more as they take on O’Hara on May 5th and Carroll on May 7th. For now, they improve to 2-5 in the PCL and will take on Germantown Friends for a non-conference matchup on Saturday at 11:00 AM.