By Frank Cooney
Eastern PA Area Scout

Methacton and Upper Perkiomen locked up in a wild, back-and-forth, PAC-10 match-up on Thursday afternoon, with Methacton scratching out an 8-7 victory. The win moves Methacton into a tie at the top of the league with Spring-Ford and still and alive and well in the league's playoff picture.

Methacton jumped out to an early 2-0 lead as Marist bound leadoff hitter, Tyler Kirkpatrick, laced a hard ground ball down the left field line to begin the game. Kirkpatrick stole second base and wound up scoring on junior Glen Seymour's (2-for-4, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2B) single up the middle with one out. An Upper Perkiomen error allowed Seymour to advance to third base, and he was driven home by a sacrifice fly from senior Trip Wagner.  

Upper Perkiomen went into the home half of the fourth inning down by a score of 3-1, after scoring a run in the second and allowing a Methacton run in the top of the fourth - that was when things got wild. A Methacton error allowed Upper Perkiomen's Ryan Harris to advance to second base to begin the frame. The next batter, Eric Stolman, squared early as he was attempting to move the runner to third with one out via the sacrifice bunt. Stolman did better than just moving the runner over though, as the left fielder placed a beautiful bunt just beyond Methacton pitcher Tim Carfrey, beating it out for a bunt single. With runners on the corners and still nobody out, the number seven hitter, Brandon Brigman, bunted as well, and Methacton was unable to field the bunt cleanly. The next batter ... yup, you guessed it, bunted once again, and reached base safely. All told Upper Perkiomen would bunt five consecutive times without Methacton recording an out, leading to six runs in the fourth inning and putting the Indians on top by a score of 7-3. Upper Perkiomen's lead would not last long however, as back to back Methacton singles from Kirkpatrick and Carfrey to begin the top of the fifth set the table for Glen Seymour's RBI double. An RBI single from West Chester recruit Clayton Harwick and a two run single from Danny Damato knotted the game at 7-7.  

In the top half of the 6th inning, with the score still tied at seven, Kirkpatrick started a Methacton inning with a hit for the second consecutive inning and the third time in the game, launching a triple to left-center. Carfrey, Methacton's starting pitcher and two hitter then drove a fastball back up the middle, scoring Kirkpatrick for what would prove to be the decisive run in an 8-7 Methacton victory.

For detailed scouting information including velocities, pop times and bat exit speeds see The Pennsylvania High School Scouting Blog.

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