A year removed from a WPIAL baseball championship, Hopewell struggled in the 2025 season, finishing tied for last place in Section 1-4A with only five wins in 20 games.
What a difference a year makes as the Vikings are still in the hunt for a section crown heading into the final day of section play this season.
Hopewell scored the tiebreaking run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the sixth inning to defeat visiting Blackhawk on Monday, 3-2.
The victory keeps the Vikings within one game of first place as they improve to 12-5 for the season.
“Two more wins and they’ll be in uncharted territory for (the seniors) since the most wins they’ve had in a season was 14, and that was our WPIAL championship season in 2023,” Hopewell coach Morgan Singletary said. “These guys have put in a lot of work the past two years and it hasn’t really shown. I’m happy it’s all coming together this year because they’ve grinded through a lot.”
The battle with Blackhawk was a grind for Hopewell and a throwback to the days that the late, great legendary district coaches Joe Colella of Hopewell and Bob Amalia of Blackhawk would match wits.
Small ball might be a thing of the past in Major League Baseball, but both the Vikings and Cougars relied on the sacrifice in a pitchers’ duel with five sac bunts and three of the five runs scoring on sacrifice flies.
“The closer you get to the playoffs, the more you see the small ball,” Singletary said. “We really emphasize getting guys on and getting them over and getting them in. It’s a lot nicer for a coach when you can hit the ball all over the park and put up a ton of runs, but these games happen too and we need to know how to win them.”
The Vikings struck first in the bottom of the first when James “Booboo” Armstrong and Kingston Krotec hit back-to-back singles. They were bunted over by Drew Donovan, then Armstrong scored on a sacrifice fly by Charles Smetana.
Blackhawk tied the game in the second when Grant Lansberry led off with a chopping double down the left field line. Courtesy runner Grady Liller moved to third on a single by Sam Saliba, then scored on a sac fly by Tyler Syka.
The Cougars took their only lead in the top of the third inning when Logan Elich drove one to the fence in left center field for a leadoff double. He was bunted to third base by Finn Conlon and scored on another sacrifice fly, this time by Pitt commit Carter Davis.
Hopewell evened the score in the bottom of the fourth inning with some two-out lightning.
With Logan Triscila at first base and two outs, back-to-back singles by James Gill and Ben McDonald tied the game at 2-2.
“Ben’s at-bats have been getting better and better each game,” Singletary said. “He started off the year and was super-hot. We tried moving him up in the lineup, and I think he started trying to do too much, but he’s at his best when he’s patient in there and able to go to all fields.
“There’s been thoughts about whether we should move him back up, but we don’t want to mess with something that’s working.”
McDonald was part of the game-winning bottom of the sixth inning for Hopewell.
Gill led off with his second single of the game and Jayvion Lindsey came in to pinch run. He went to second on a passed ball, then McDonald worked a walk off Cougars reliever Trey Book, who came in for starter Eli White and got out of a jam the previous inning.
Jacob Knobloch did the honors with a sac bunt, then Lindsey raced home with the game-winning run on a wild pitch.
Krotec started and finished the game for the Vikings as he set the Cougars down in order in the seventh inning to secure the victory.
He allowed two earned runs on seven hits with only one walk and four strikeouts.
“I feel like Kingston gets better the more pressure is on him,” Singletary said. “Going down (2-1) didn’t faze him at all. He got out of a couple big jams and kept a lot of runs from being scored. He’s been phenomenal all year.”
The win for Hopewell actually put Beaver in the driver’s seat for the section title.
If the Bobcats can beat North Catholic on Tuesday, they are the outright section champions. Even if they lose, Beaver has clinched a share of the section crown.
Hopewell and Blackhawk (11-5) are both 7-4 in section play and will play for at least second place Tuesday at Chippewa Park.
“It was really big since it gives us a chance to win the section if Beaver loses,” Armstrong said. “Our team has had history against Blackhawk, so it’s big for us to win that game.”