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Friday’s forecast called for occasional gusts of wind to cause challenging conditions, but the lone sort of whipping that occurred resulted in happy athletes and not harassed hairdos. Showing it can come to make as much noise as air molecules, the Horace Furness High School baseball team, 1900 S. Third St., used 16 hits to blow out Fels 18-6 at the South Philadelphia super site, 10th and Bigler streets, for its first victory.
“We’re off the schneid,” seventh-year coach Eric Weinstein said to his charges, who despite having entered with an 0-3 mark had a run differential of only minus five. “When you take advantage of opportunities, this is the kind of result you can expect.”
The South Jersey resident and gym and health teacher at South Philadelphia High School, 2101 S. Broad St., could commend numerous contributors to the cause, as the Falcons registered season-high hit and run totals. The Division-B contest offered the Public League representatives more than a chance to garner their inaugural triumph, as it also endowed them with an opportunity to show their mix of new and established talent can prove potent.
“We’ve become good friends pretty fast, so if we maintain our confidence, we’ll click even more,” second baseman Jose Luis, who joins center fielder Mateen Bradley to form Freshman Power for Weinstein, said of how they have worked to have pride in their efforts no matter the results.
The resident of the 2300 block of South Mildred Street entered his Pennsport school’s annals April 2 by whiffing 22 Mastbaum hitters in a 3-2 extra-inning defeat. That figure eclipsed the 20 strikeouts that Joey Gorman, who went on to baffle batters for Ss. Neumann-Goretti High School, 1736 S. 10th St., notched in 2009 versus Engineering and Science and gave Weinstein plenty of evidence of his receptivity to having an immediate role. For Friday’s game, though, the coach gave the ball to senior hurler Jose Gil, a cousin of ’13 graduate Agustin Gil, who last year claimed divisional MVP honors. The right-hander, like his squad, was seeking a first, as he had yet to win a high school game.
Lower Moyamensing’s Luis presented the pitcher and his mates with a display of his versatility in the first when the Falcons, playing as the road team because Fels lacks a home field, grabbed a 1-0 lead via senior first baseman Khaid Jones’ single that scored the freshman, who had singled and swiped second. Gil yielded the tying run in the bottom of the frame and four more tallies in the second inning before his peers swooped in to mount a comeback and commence the conquering of the Panthers.
“Early on, yeah, it didn’t look good, but we know we had to compete every time at the plate,” senior third baseman Nick Collis, who plays for the team courtesy of a School District of Philadelphia sponsorship agreement that benefits
other learners from The Academy at Palumbo, 1100 Catharine St., said of outscoring their foes 17-1 after going down by a quartet of scores. “Offensively, I don’t think we have too many problems as long as we concentrate.”
The inhabitant of the 2100 block of Montrose Street doubled in the third to advance leadoff man and junior right fielder Steve Perez to third, with the latter scoring on an error and the former returning to the bench on a sacrifice fly by junior shortstop and two-time All-Public pick Marshall Drummond. After an intriguing home half that saw Gil escape a no-out, bases loaded jam by starting a double play and inducing a force out, the teams exchanged relatively quick fourth-inning hacks before the Falcons started to make their hosts wonder when they could catch their bus ride out of South Philly.
“I’m really not sensing that your concentration level is at 100 percent,” Weinstein said of their facing a deficit. “Hit good pitches.”
Having generated 12 runs in a one-run setback to Marianna
Bracetti April 4, the teenagers definitely know how to be selective and feasted on fat offerings in the fifth, with five players accepting kudos for navigating the base paths. As it seems no lead is ever safe in the widely unpredictable world of Public League baseball, they quickly responded in the sixth to Fels’ narrowing the score to 8-6 by blasting seven runs, the highlight coming when Collis crushed a bases-clearing double, his second knock of the frame.
“We definitely have some stuff to work on, like defense,” the South of South denizen said following the tilt, which featured three Furness errors, “but once we do that, we’re going to be one of the best teams.”
A hairy home sixth fortunately found no Panthers charging home, and the Falcons pecked at their prey in their final swings by scoring three more times, with Luis and Gil singling to up their combined output to seven hits, four for the younger player. The older roster member finished the affair with a rapid seventh inning that included two punchouts and received ample congratulations for his achievement.
“A game like this is big,” Collis, who collected three hits, as many runs batted in, two runs and the same number of doubles, said. “I feel as if we could go on a roll.”
The Falcons will host Roxborough Monday at 3:15 p.m. ■
Contact Managing Editor Joseph Myers at jmyers@southphillyreview.com or ext. 124. Comment at southphillyreview.com/sports/features.
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