Baseball: Radnor makes every play count in win over Marple Newtown

NEWTOWN SQUARE — Arguably the most important play in Radnor’s 8-5 win over Marple Newtown Tuesday is nowhere to be found in the boxscore. It was a play, though, that typified the Raiders’ approach in picking up a key Central League win.

With one on and one out in the fourth inning of a tie game, Garrett McGurl hit a comebacker to the mound for what looked to be a tailor-made double play. But Ben Cohen’s hard slide into second base took out shortstop Nick Giordano and prevented him from turning the twin *******.

The inning extended, Andrew Austen and Connor Wilson delivered RBI singles to make it 4-2, and by the middle of the fifth, the Radnor advantage was 8-2, too much for the host Tigers to overcome.

Cohen may not have showed up in the boxscore for his heady play, but there were plenty of other examples from Radnor that did.

Whether it was the 12 hits — all singles — or the balance of eight players crossing the plate, or the economical pitching of starter Sean Corelli working into the seventh inning, the win had the earmarks of the style Radnor’s youthful roster will dictate this season.

“Everything in baseball counts,” Wilson said. “You never know if one thing is going to lead to another thing, and in this case it did. The take-out slide by Ben led to that rally.”

Despite being down two before it had gotten two outs, Radnor (1-1, 1-1) rallied quickly. Tom Austen dunked a single into center field in the third inning that drove in two runs — including Wilson, who reached on an error. The two-spot posted in the fourth relied on Radnor forcing its way into an extra out. And a pair of mistakes by Marple (1-0, 1-0) in the fifth threw fuel on the fire.

Radnor’s batters were willing to capitalize on the openings they were given. With the bases loaded in the fifth, pinch hitter John Lord leaned into a pitch to drive in a run and chase Marple starter Matt Young after four-plus innings. The next batter, Terrance Quinn, worked the first walk of the day for either side to plate another run.

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