Great Valley Nine Swat Hornets, 17-7

Great Valley's baseball team was not a group of happy campers late Monday afternoon.

Here it was, the first day of the 2011 season and, right out of the chute, they had to deal with one of the best pitchers in Chester County, Downingtown East's Matt  Ternowchek. The result was a 3-0, one-hit loss to the Cougars and Ternowchek, who struck out nine along the way.

The Patriots took the frustrations out one day later as Oxford got in the way of a detemined GV squad that hammered the Hornets 17-7 on Tuesday at Great Valley in the Ches-Mont League American Division opener for both teams.

This time, it was Great Valley that handed out the frustration, putting the game on ice with a nine-run run third inning that featured some solid hitting for the Pats and some awful pitching by Oxford. After facing Ternowchek 24 hours earlier, the plethora of Hornets pitchers were treated like unwanted company at a family gathering all afternoon.

After taking a quick 7-1 lead, the Patriots really went to work in the third. Jordan Vallinino singled to start the inning and Nick Evangelista followed with another base hit. Christian Barrett lined a hit to score Vallinino. After a force out and a strike out, it appeared the Hornets would work their way out of the inning, trailing just 8-1.

That didn't happen. Catcher Jack Meeker roped a two-run hit, and it was 9-1. After Chance Griffiths walked to load the bases, Vallinino came up for the second time in the inning and smoked a double to left center that cleared the bases, pushing the Pats ahead 12-1.

Vallinino crossed with the 13th run when Evangelista pounded another double, then scored himself on Barrett's RBI single. The inning ended when Mike Rispoli grounded into a force out but the damage had been done.

In getting to the 14-1 lead after the third, the Pats had put together six of their 17 hits for the day wrapped around two walks, three wild pitches and a stolen base off three Oxford pitchers.

Meanwhile, starting and winning Pats hurler J.D. Mallon was the recipient of the outburst.

Oxford didn't go quietly, to their credit. They scored six runs in the top of the fourth to get within 14-7, and in doing so and prevented, for the time being, going home early due to the 10-run mercy rule. Great Valley added two more in the fourth to get a little more breathing room at 16-7.

The Hornets kicked up a fuss in the fifth, as well. They loaded the bases thanks to a bad-hop ground ball that almost decapitated shortstop Kevin Falcone. However, they never scored thanks to a running, one-handed stab of  a linedrive in the gap by GV centerfielder Williams that ended the inning.

Great Valley's half of the fifth saw the Pats once again load the bases on a walk, a single and an error. With Meeker at bat and Barrett on third, the Oxford reliever unleashed the umpteenth wild pitch of the day, Barrett raced home and the game ended on the mercy rule, 17-7.

Information on upcoming games

The Patriots (1-1 overall, 1-0 league) future schedule inludes a home game Friday against Octorara, a road trip to Downingtown West on Monday and another ride to Unionville next Wednesday, with all games starting at 3:45 p.m.