Get our newsletters

Greers in gear as Central Bucks West in finals

Posted

It was a good week to be a Greer brother.

In Friday night’s District One 6A quarterfinal at No. 6 Coatesville, Central Bucks West’s Jacob Greer allowed just one run in six and two-thirds innings to stifle the host Red Raiders. The No. 14 Bucks backed the freshman, who fanned five, with six runs. The 6-1 win punched West’s ticket to states for the first time since at least 2000.

Friday might not have been the week’s best pitching performance in the Greer household. Brother Sam, a senior, dominated No. 3 Methacton in last Wednesday’s second round, allowing only four base runners in six innings as West thumped the Warriors 10-0. Jacob pitched a scoreless seventh to end it.

“Sam has gotten his velocity up to 90-plus over the last couple of years and I think some people may mistake that as just being a pure power arm,” said West manager Brian Weaver. “He has very good breaking stuff too. Jacob throws hard and is a big kid for a freshman, but he isn’t the size of upperclassmen. He spots up and has a good pitch mix. He is doing a great job of putting the ball where he wants.

“Winning Wednesday and being guaranteed two games was very lucky because we didn’t have to run Julio (Ermigiotti) and Alex (Jenkinson) back on short rest,” Weaver continued, referencing his staff ace and best reliever. “We could put Jacob in and knew Coatesville was a pretty aggressive team who got after first pitches and pulled the ball a lot. A guy like Jacob could make them roll over or fly out. It played out like we hoped.”

As well as the Greers have pitched, a balanced West lineup gave them plenty of run support. A five-spot in the second against Methacton provided West with breathing room. Alex Valdes put together big games, going 3-for-3 with a homer and 2 RBIs against Methacton and hitting an RBI single against Coatesville. Quinn Illig had three hits and an RBI against Methacton, while rapping an RBI double at Coatesville.

And both pitchers helped themselves out: Sam had two hits and Jacob drove in two in their respective starts.

The Bucks (18-6) extended their win streak to seven on Tuesday, waxing No. 2 North Penn 14-1 in a mercy ruled district semifinals. Kevin Bukowski’s three-run second inning dinger made the score 5-0 and West’s bats stayed hot the rest of the way. West faces No. 1 Spring-Ford in Thursday’s district finals at Villanova Ballpark at Plymouth.

In their postseason games, “You couldn’t pick an offensive star,” Weaver noted last Saturday. “In the last two games, I think eight of our nine starters have reached base or driven in a run.”

The West defense has tightened up too. The Bucks, the SOL Colonial runners-up, played a sloppy, five-error game in their extra-inning opening-round 7-6 win over No. 19 Downingtown West.

“That set baseball back a few decades,” Weaver joked.

Both Coatesville and Methacton were error-free. “Once we settled down, we continued to do the things that made us successful this year. Downingtown’s pitcher was a Pitt-commit so the fact that we hung with him, I don’t think anyone felt like we escaped from that game,” Weaver said. “They were really loose against Methacton and Coatesville. I think that might be from how we turned it around against Downingtown.”


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.


X