Anderson pitches 2-hitter as Hempfield baseball routs Norwin

By: HSSN Staff
Monday, April 23, 2018 | 8:45 PM

Jake Anderson doesn't understand all the fuss.

The Hempfield right-hander was just doing his job Monday during the Spartans' 11-1 rout of Norwin in a Section 2-6A baseball game called in the fifth inning by the 10-run rule. Anderson pitched a two-hitter with seven strikeouts and no walks. Isaiah DeAndreth's solo home run to lead off the bottom of the fifth halted the game.

“I just need to stay humble when everyone starts patting me on the back and talking,” said Anderson, a senior who said he is contemplating whether to play baseball or hockey in college.

His latest performance bodes well for baseball, where Penn State Behrend is showing interest.

“He's a strike-thrower with all three of his pitches,” Hempfield coach Tim Buzzard said. “He's earned some more opportunities this year, and he's been throwing the ball very, very well. He certainly kept Norwin off-balance.”

Anderson set down the Knights in order in four of the five innings.

Justin Sliwoski hit a pair of RBI doubles, and Luke Hudson tripled home another run for Hempfield (11-2, 6-0), which won its fifth consecutive game and second this month against Norwin (4-4, 3-3).

The Knights were out of sorts from the start.

Norwin committed eight errors, including six during a six-run Hempfield fourth. They played the last half of the game without coach Mike Liebdzinski, who was ejected in the top of the third for arguing balls and strikes.

“We lost our composure, and then things just kind of unraveled from there,” said assistant coach Tom Quealy, who ran the team in Liebdzinski's absence. “Their pitcher did a nice job, and Hempfield is a very nice team. They should do well in the playoffs.”

Anderson began the game by striking out the side in the first and finished with two strikeouts in the fifth.

His only blemish came in the fourth, when Owen Sabol doubled, advanced to third on a single by Ronnie Howard and scored on a sacrifice fly by Jayden Walker.

But even then, the Knights ran themselves out of the inning with a baserunning blunder that resulted in a double play on Walker's flyout to deep right-center field.

Hudson's RBI triple in the first gave Hempfield a 1-0 lead before the Spartans added three runs in the third, two coming on an RBI single by Tyler Dancu and Sliwoski's first RBI double.

Norwin cut into the lead with its only run in the fourth. But Hempfield, aided by Norwin's sloppy play, broke it open in the bottom of the fourth, sending 10 batters to the plate and scoring six runs on only three hits.

“Every team is different,” Buzzard said. “We've set our expectations pretty high here in recent years, and this team is no different. These guys genuinely love to practice and play the game of baseball together. They pull for one another, and they push each other every single day. There's some good chemistry going on here.”

Hempfield has not missed qualifying for the WPIAL playoffs since 2009, and Norwin has made the field every year since '08.

Dave Mackall is a freelance writer.

Tags: Hempfield Area, Norwin