Brady Hannahoe-Exeter

Brady Hannahoe admitted that he wasn’t thrilled when he was first moved into the leadoff spot. On Thursday afternoon at Shillington, the senior second baseman came up at exactly the right time. Hannahoe ripped a 2-run triple in the top of the seventh inning to get Exeter within 10-9 of Gov. Mifflin. He came through again in the ninth with a single to center that brought home Evan Franek with the go-ahead run. The Eagles went on to score six runs on five hits in the ninth. They outlasted the Mustangs 16-10 and handed Gov. Mifflin its first loss of the season. The marathon game included 28 hits and nine errors. Exeter has eleven seniors on its roster. I asked Hannahoe about the importance of having so much experience. He replied, “Our chemistry is fantastic. We’ve played with each other since the age of 5. It honestly won us the game today.” The (13-5, 8-4) Eagles trailed 6-2 after the first frame. They were down 9-5 after the third inning and 10-7 entering the seventh. A sacrifice fly to center field by Luke Weller tied it at 10. Exeter scored three times on one hit in that inning. Hannahoe loves having Weller hit behind him. The senior shortstop has a batting average of .500. Weller leads the team with 26 RBI. He was 3-for-4 with 2 RBI against the Mustangs. Weller greeted freshman Bryce Detwiler with an RBI single in the ninth. Nick Sydor followed with a 2-run double to give the Eagles a 14-10 advantage. Deven Sheerin knocked in a run with a double to make it 16-10. That was plenty of insurance for Alex Kelsey. The sophomore left-hander earned the win with 1.1 innings of hitless relief. Kelsey (2-0) had only pitched 4.1 innings before today. He hasn’t given up a run. The speedster increased his batting average to .364 by going 3-for-6 with a triple. Hannahoe added three hits and drove in three runs. He’s hitting .400 this year. Franek got on base all five times that he went to the plate. The No. 9 hitter singled, walked twice, and was hit by a pitch twice. Hannahoe gave a lot of credit to Owen Wisner. After Ian Wilson and Gavin Marr struggled to get through one inning, Wisner tossed 6.2 innings when Exeter desperately needed him to slow down a potent Gov. Mifflin offense. The senior lefty allowed four runs, two earned, on seven hits. He struck out five. The Mustangs committed six errors leading to seven unearned runs. Xander Velez gave up six runs, one earned, on eight hits. The hard-throwing junior had five strikeouts and two walks. Matt Novotny took the loss. He was charged with seven runs, five earned, in 4.1 innings. The (19-1, 11-1) Mustangs got a leadoff double from Detwiler in the bottom of the eighth. After a sacrifice bunt moved him to third, Wisner struck out pinch-hitter Hunter Unger. Kelsey had to take over for Wisner who had reached the 100 pitch limit. Kelsey promptly struck out Novotny to end the inning. Travis Jenkins, Jon Radwanski, and Detwiler had two hits apiece for Gov. Mifflin. Star shortstop Tyler Minick was moved to second base during the game. The UConn commit looked very uncomfortable throwing the baseball. Minick was 1-for-3 with three walks and two runs. Hannahoe said they had nothing to lose facing an undefeated team. The Eagles have a lot of momentum, but he knows that they can’t take anyone lightly. The BCIAA playoffs begin next Thursday. Exeter has won six of its last seven contests. When he’s not on the diamond, Hannahoe pays close attention to the stock market. He enjoys trading stocks. We also talked about his favorite teachers at Exeter.