On Monday, undefeated Fort Cherry had to battle from behind late to edge Chartiers-Houston.
There was no dramatic finish needed Tuesday as the Rangers finished another sweep this season by knocking out the Buccaneers.
Fort Cherry scored four runs in the first inning and kept adding on as the Rangers rolled past Chartiers-Houston at EQT Park in Washington, 12-4.
“You never know in baseball,” legendary Fort Cherry coach Bob Sawhill said. “Your best player could have a bad game and the worst player could have a great game. There’s just no rhyme or reason to it.”
A lot of Fort Cherry players had very good games Tuesday.
The Rangers scored four runs in the top of the first inning on only one hit.
Chartiers-Houston starter Luke Beresh walked three batters plus three errors led to two runs, then Tyler Wolfe knocked home the other two with a two-out double.
“That was real big,” Sawhill said of the four-run first inning. “That was out goal the end of (Monday) night because they’re not a bad team. It’s just one of those things when you get somebody down, it makes it twice as hard for them to come back.”
With the score 5-1 in the top of the third inning, the Rangers chased Beresh with another four-run inning.
Tyler Wolfe’s second double scored Blake Sweder, who led off with a single. Following another Bucs error, Dylan Lueck drove home two with a base hit, then following a Nathan Wolfe single, courtesy runner Gunnar Grant scored on a Colton Temple sacrifice fly.
The junior Temple, one of the top hitters in the district, finished 1 for 2 at the plate with two walks, a run scored and an RBI.
Temple made his fifth appearance on the mound for Fort Cherry as he started the game and pitched five strong innings.
He allowed four runs, but only one earned run, with five hits, one walk and eight strikeouts to improve to 3-0 with two saves.
“I think he threw well,” Sawhill said. “He’s a special ballplayer. He’s a phenomenal hitter, and he’s good no matter where he plays. No matter where you put him, you can depend on the ball being caught. He’s a very smart baseball player.”
The Chartiers-Houston bullpen limited the damage. The combination of Josh Hawkins, Brady Godfredson and Cooper Swarrow combined to allow only two earned runs on five hits over the final five innings.
The Buccaneers only had six hits, but half of them came from Julius Livingston, who finished 3 for 4.
Chartiers-Houston falls to 5-4 with the loss and 7-6 for the season. The Bucs remain one game ahead of both Burgettstown and Frazier in the battle for third place in Section 1-2A.
Fort Cherry was led by junior catcher Dylan Lueck’s three hits while fellow 11th graders Landon Trnavsky, Tyler Wolfe and Nathan Wolfe each had two hits.
Fort Cherry is tied with California for first place in the section, both with 8-0 records.
The Rangers are now 12-0 for the season as they prepare to battle the Trojans in a huge section series next week.
The win Tuesday was No. 297 in the career of Sawhill, who has been the Rangers head coach since 1989.
“This team wants to be the group that puts him over 300,” said Fort Cherry assistant coach and the son of the head coach, Brad Sawhill.