Upper Perkiomen's offense threatened in its initial at-bat last week against Perkiomen Valley. Owen Williams made solid contact, but his line drive ended the rally.

            The Indians mounted few other opportunities in a 4-0 loss on Friday, March 31 in their Pioneer Athletic Conference opener. They finished with just one hit against three Vikings pitchers.

            Jack Schramm absorbed the mound loss despite allowing just one unearned run.

Upper Perkiomen shortstop Evan Sands prepares to tag a  Perkiomen Valley baserunner heading back to second base.

The Tribe junior scattered four hits in 4 1/3 innings. Mercon described his first start of the season as an attempt to build his pitch count.  "Jack will definitely pitch again," the coach said.

            On Monday, the Indians lost 7-4 to Upper Merion at Bonekemper Field. Seven errors led to six unearned runs.

            Evan Wittig allowed six runs (one earned) in two innings of work. Upper Merion rallied for six runs in the second inning to go ahead 6-1.

            Evan Sands tossed three shutout innings in relief. He allowed only one walk and registered four strikeouts.

            Kyle Mazzie and Braden Rieg each notched two hits and drove in a run for the Tribe, which notched seven hits overall.

            Against visiting Perkiomen Valley, the first inning set the tone. The team delivered an unearned run on a double and an infield throwing error on a bunt.

            The Tribe (2-3 overall, 0-2 PAC) mounted its best scoring opportunity in the bottom of the first inning against Vikings starting pitcher Nathan Fisher. Kyle Mazzie delivered a sharp single, the team's only hit, down the third base line and stole second.

            Mazzie advanced to third when Perkiomen Valley third baseman Justin Stasyk misplayed Devlin Kranich's ground ball. Kranich then stole second base to put two runners in scoring position with one out.

            However, the team couldn't drive in a run. Fisher struck out Braden Rieg, and Owen Williams followed with a line drive directly at left fielder Cole Thear to end the threat.

            "Sometimes when you don't take advantage of a situation there's a tendency to press at the plate the rest of the game," Mercon said. "Part of our philosophy is to score first, which is part of the reason we bunt so much."

            The Vikings added two runs in the sixth inning off Rieg and one in the seventh. One of the runs in the sixth was unearned, but defensive miscues led to both.  "We've got to be able to make those plays," Mercon said.

            Before Drew Kenworthy's RBI single with one out in the top of the sixth drove home pinch runner Anthony Miceli, Jackson Houy hit a sharp grounder to shortstop. Evan Sands fielded the ball and threw to third in an attempt to throw out Miceli. However, the runner returned to second base safely, and no outs were recorded.

            An infield error on a grounder off the bat of Stasyk set up a sacrifice fly by Cole Thear that staked Perkiomen Valley to a 3-1 lead. Kyle Fitzpatrick's RBI hit off reliever Cole Pierce in the top of the seventh inning capped the scoring.

            Fisher kept the Tribe off-balance for six innings. He registered eight strikeouts while issuing two walks.

            "[Fisher] mixed his pitches well," Mercon said. "He shut us down."