Wawa announces Schwarberfest — a Hoagiefest spinoff — and Phillies’ slugger immediately starts hitting

Back in June, Kyle Schwarber was raking. He slashed .272/.385/.680 that month, while hitting 12 home runs and racking up 27 RBIs. Coincidentally, his hot streak coincided with a well-known local promotion from Wawa: Hoagiefest.

Whether or not the $6 dollar classics were what was fueling Schwarber remains to be seen, but the tear he was on is undeniable.

Despite leading the National League with 46 home runs this year, Schwarber had been considerably cooler since, including 1-for-20 this postseason heading into the NLCS, and Wawa decided to offer up some extra incentive to the Phillies slugger — just in case it was the lack of cheap hoagies causing the issue.

So on Tuesday night, prior to Game 1 between the Phillies and the San Diego Padres, Wawa announced “Schwarberfest.”

So far, the returns have been impressive. After starting the game with a walk and hitting a single in the third, he absolutely crushed an offering from Yu Darvish into the right field bleachers.

That monster shot from Schwarber had an exit velocity of nearly 119.7 mph, good for the fourth highest in baseball all season. On top of that, it landed in the second row of the second deck, traveling 488 feet, which was made it the longest ball ever hit in Petco Park, according to the FS1 broadcast.

It was so impressive, that not even Bryce Harper, who hit a solo shot of his own earlier in the game, could hardly believe it.

It’s not the first time Schwarber has hit a monster bomb, but it was the longest of Schwarber’s career, even longer than this blast he hit for the Cubs that landed atop the scoreboard at Wrigley.

Phillies fans sure hope more home runs will follow, but for now they’ll likely settle for what appears to be a slump-busting night from Schwarber — and the cheap hoagies. Fans looking to see Schwarber’s turnaround continue include Ryan Howard, who tweeted that he’s going to be in town for Game 3 on Friday night.

Could he possibly be throwing out the first pitch? We’ll see.

After a strikeout in the top of the ninth, Schwarber is now 2-for-3 with a single, a walk and that moonshot of a home run since Schwarberfest was announced.