The Quakertown Blazers – already off to a scorching first half – won’t need motivation for the back leg of their season.
Quakertown stood at 14-5 on June 30, its season’s halfway point, just a half game off of the best record in the 15-team ACBL. The team entered press time 20-5, with the best record in the ACBL after Tuesday’s doubleheader at the Bergen Metros.
The Blazers sadly lost their biggest fan on June 29 when the club announced the passing of Dr. Tom Bonekemper. The Bonekemper twins – Tom and George – founded the Blazers when they rescued the Allentown Wings in 1984 and moved the team to Quakertown. Dr. Bonekemper, a longtime former ACBL president, provided the Upper Bucks community with a first-class product on and off the field.
This writer, in particular, will always remember Dr. Bonekemper for his ever-present smile and his eagerness to help out whenever the writer needed assistance.
Yet the season continues and the pitching staff that Quakertown has assembled this summer would surely make Dr. Bonekemper proud. Quakertown’s 2.80 ERA leads the ACBL by over an entire run. The team’s league-leading WHIP is 1.14, comfortably ahead of the second place Neptunes.
Both pitching and offense have clicked. Through Sunday, Cole Hertzler (Liberty) was second in the ACBL in RBIs (19) and ranked third with three homers. Souderton’s Conlan Wall (St. Joseph’s) was hitting .328 and infielder Riley Davis (Lehigh) was right behind Hertzler with 17 RBIs.
A July 2 doubleheader sweep against the Trenton Generals presented a great example of Quakertown’s “Arm and Hammer” approach. Misericordia lefty Joe Valenti fired a three-hit shutout in the nightcap, lowering his ERA to a microscopic 0.32 in four starts, all of which were complete games.
In the 10-7 opener, CB South’s Owen Petrich blasted two long homers for Quakertown. In a team of hitters, Petrich is making a case for Quakertown MVP.
“Owen is a super athletic kid. He was a three-sport athlete in high school and he excelled in every sport – baseball, football and basketball,” recalled CB South coach Kevin Bray. “For us, his last year, he hit .420 with 10 home runs and 30-plus RBIs. That is the productivity that he is capable of.
“I’m not shocked at all that Owen would be able to not have a ton of reps in the school season and then pop up onto the field and hit .300,” Bray continued. “With the preparation work that he does during practice and on his own, I’m not surprised that he is able to have a really productive season for the Blazers.”
Through Tuesday, Petrich – who redshirted this season at Delaware – led the ACBL with seven homers and 22 RBIs while batting .384. “It feels really good,” Petrich said. “It’s nice to get back into playing. (Redshirting) was kind of tough at the beginning because I had been used to playing a lot in high school and on summer teams.
“But overall, I feel it made me become a better teammate and worry more about what the team was doing rather than just myself. I still took BP, practiced and went to lifts,” he continued. “I did everything the team was doing except travel.”
Petrich has a very impressive 14 to 10 walk to strikeout ratio through Sunday. “I’ve always been confident that no matter what bat I’m using, whether it’s wood or metal, that I can hit for power and hopefully average as well,” Petrich explained. “I feel like I’ve been seeing the ball well so I’ve been able to read the spin. I’ve always had a good sense of the strike zone and have been able to pick out what pitches I’ve wanted to hit.”
“As a teammate and a leader on the field, Owen did everything for us in that 2021 season,” Bray observed. “He is a genuine kid, a real nice kid, but he has super high leadership qualities. He is not necessarily the rah-rah vocal leader. He leads by example. On the field, he has a business-like attitude, but he also has fun. He was a pleasure to be around.”
Petrich didn’t have a specific goal of being in the top six in the ACBL’s Triple Crown categories – even though he was through Sunday. “Mostly just to shake off the rust, get some more playing time and get ready for the fall when I get back to Delaware,” were his desired takeaways.
Petrich can use this superlative summer to launch into a tough CAA season next spring. For now, he is helping to put up the crooked numbers, which complement shutdown pitching that has Quakertown chasing its best season in nearly 20 summers.
Join our readers whose generous donations are making it possible for you to read our news coverage. Help keep local journalism alive and our community strong. Donate today.
