Belmont Inn upends Blue Mountain in opening game
Belmont Inn's Eric Fudala (right) safely steals second base before Blue Mountain's Brian Coleman can apply the tag during Thursday's Fayette County Baseball League playoff game in Carmichaels.
Belmont Inn's Jeremy Molinaro rears back to throw a pitch during Thursday's Fayette County Baseball League playoff game against Blue Mountain in Carmichaels.
Blue Mountain's Joe Havrilak (19) celebrates with teammate Chuck Gasti (1) after hitting a home run in the first inning of Thursday's Fayette County Baseball League game against Belmont Inn in Carmichaels.
CARMICHAELS — For only the second time in the past two years, Belmont Inn came into a Fayette County Baseball League game against Blue Mountain and walked out with a victory, as the visitors took game one of the FCBL semifinals with a 9-2 win Thursday evening at Carmichaels High School.
Belmont Inn (15-10) lost all four regular season games to the top-seeded Blue Mountain (18-7) in 2011, and was eliminated by the Copperheads in last year’s semifinals.
“They are the champions from last year with the best coach in the league, and it feels great to finally beat them,” Belmont Inn manager Steve Kezmarsky said. “This is the second time we beat them in the last two years. It was a big win.”
Kezmarsky said that his team has been turning it around in the second half of the season, with all three phrases contributing to Belmont Inn’s success.
“The last two weeks we have picked it up,” Kezmarsky said. “We were 6-9, but it was the best 6-9 team I have ever coached. We are getting solid pitching outings, playing great defense and we are starting to smack the ball around. We have been more focused on getting base hits and just making contact with the ball.”
In the first inning, the visitors took a 1-0 lead when Mike Pegg singled in Eric Fudala.
The Copperheads responded immediately in bottom half of the frame, when leadoff hitter Joe Havrilak blasted a solo home run to knot things up at 1-1.
Belmont Inn sent nine batters to the plate in the second and tallied four runs to seize control of the game. Nate Fike clobbered a two-run double, while Fudala collected a single that scored two runs to give the visitors a 5-1 advantage.
In the fourth, Pegg added insurance runs for Belmont with a double that scored two.
Belmont ended their offensive onslaught in the seventh, when Fudala once again smacked a two-run single.
In the bottom of the seventh, Blue Mountain was able to scratch a run out when J.W. Kayla garnered an infield single that scored a run.
Belmont’s starter, Jeremy Molinaro, pitched a tremendous game in the pivotal contest by going the distance and pitching out of jams. The southpaw registered three strikeouts, despite issuing six free passes.
“Jeremy pitched for Pasta Lorenzo last year and he had a no-hitter against us in the playoffs,” Kezmarsky said. “He is 5-1 for us this season and I think the last five games he has been pretty much untouchable. He has great command of all of his pitches. He is a smart lefty and very athletic.”
Justin Schrader was tagged with the loss and was knocked out of the game in the fourth inning. Andy Manion and Tyler Schrader pitched the remainder of the contest.
“We were lousy in every phrase of the game today,” Blue Mountain skipper Richard Krause said. “We couldn’t hit, we couldn’t pitch or play defense in key situations, and we were terrible on the base paths. It was a total disappointment. They had some hits early that dropped and we just kind of packed it in when it was just 5-1. We put ourselves in a big hole and now we have to beat them at least three out of the next four times.”