High school baseball

WEDNESDAY’S GAMES
Gateway 10, Penns Grove 0
Pennsville 12, Pitman 0
Woodstown 9, Schalick 6

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

WOODSTOWN — Noah Williams couldn’t have picked a better time to hit the first home run of his life. Not the season. Not his career. His entire 17 year old life.

The Woodstown senior launched a three-run homer into the football stadium in the sixth inning Wednesday to give the Wolverines the lead in an eventual 9-6 win over rival and defending South Jersey Group I champion Schalick.

It was Williams’ first homer in 24 varsity at-bats, but it had been longer. A lot longer.

A quick and very unscientific post-game measurement set the blast at 340 feet in the air and 386 feet from home plate to where Woodstown athletics director Joe Ursino picked up the ball.

The Wolverines staged multiple comebacks before taking the lead for good under Schalick’s sixth-inning collapse. The Cougars (2-1) led 3-0 on Ricky Watt’s three-run homer in the first and 6-4 going into the bottom of the sixth.

PENNSVILLE 12, PITMAN 0: The Eagles opened their season with five-inning combined no-hitter from Logan Streitz and Mason O’Brien.

Streitz worked the first 2 2/3 innings, walking four and striking out four. O’Brien came on in the middle of a count and finished the game on 19 pitches (16 strikes), including the purest of immaculate innings — three pitches in the fifth inning.

The Panthers put only five balls in play, including a fly ball to right in the first inning that Jeff Wagner turned into an inning-ending double play.

“We were just so dialed in we get to the third inning and I’m looking at my coaches and ask, ‘have we made a play in the field,'” Eagles coach Matt Karr said. “I’m trying to count the balls they put in play.

“We didn’t even know (about the no-hitter) until we got out to left field after the game. I think it was (assistant coach Ryan Wood) who said ‘Did they have a hit?’ Then the guy doing the Gamechanger for us said, nope, a no-hitter.”

The hitters supported the effort with nine hits. Gavin Spears and O’Brien both had a pair at the top of the lineup. Stevie Fatcher had four RBIs.

GATEWAY 10, PENNS GROVE 0: Colin Murray held the Red Devils to one hit and a walk over five innings and struck out 12 and hit a two-run double in the five-run second inning that broke the game open.

Dylan Hyatt had the only Penns Grove hit, a one-out single in the first inning. Murray struck out eight in a row after the hit and retired 12 straight before walking Ronniel Terrero in the fifth. He faced one batter over the minimum.

The Gators scored a run in the first, then took control with five in the second highlight by Enzo Gambale’s two-run single and Murray’s double. Nick Watts had two hits and three RBIs.

This story will be updated.