Uniontown Legion headed to finals
?HOPWOOD — Uniontown will move on to the finals of the Fayette American Legion playoffs after an 8-4 victory over Colonial 3 in Game 2 Sunday at Hutchinson Field.
Uniontown (16-4) won the best-of-three semifinal series over Colonial, 2-0.
Uniontown used a three-run sixth inning and strong pitching from Mason Fordyce to keep Colonial (12-9) at bay.
Fordyce allowed two runs on six hits in eight innings. He had eight strikeouts and three walks.
“Mason was big for us,” Uniontown manager Scott DeBerry said. “To be able to go eight innings in this heat is gutsy. He’s our best pitcher.”
Up 2-1 in the sixth, Uniontown picked up three runs for a 5-1 lead.
Tyler Dubovich led off the inning with a double. Following a single by Adam Crayton, who had three hits, Dubovich scored following an error on a ball hit by Ed Dutkewycz.
After a strikeout, Crayton and courtesy runner Aaron King scored on a fielder’s choice off Fordcye’s bat.
“We just had that one bad inning with some mental errors,” Colonial manager Ralph Rice said. “Uniontown capitalized on our errors. We couldn’t bunch any runs together.”
Uniontown extended its lead to 6-1 in the seventh when Alex Gabler scored on Dutkewycz’s sacrifice fly to right field.
Colonial came back with a run in the eighth when Noah Saxon doubled and scored on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Josh Barota. Barota had two singles.
Uniontown scored two in its half of the eighth for an 8-2 lead when Bobby King’s two-run single drove in Max Beatty and Jake Riddell. King had three singles and two RBIs.
Colonial scored two runs with two outs in the ninth when Jacob Bevard singled home Josh Evans and Cody Cross, who had walked.
Uniontown relief pitcher Aaron King was able to get the last out.
Colonial starter Zach Smallich pitched eight innings, allowing eight runs on 10 hits. He had four strikeouts and three walks.
“I thought both Zach and Mason did a good job,” Rice said. “They are both our top pitchers.”
Uniontown took a 1-0 lead in the first when Beatty scored on a wild pitch from third.
Colonial responded with a run in the third when Barota scored on an error.
Gabler hit a solo shot in the third to give Uniontown a 2-1 lead.
Rice is optimistic heading into next year.
“We have all but two guys coming back next year,” Rice said. “Most of our players will be returning to their high school teams.”
Uniontown will travel to California today at 5:30 p.m. for the first game of the finals in a best-of-three.
“If we play our game, I think we match up well with them,” DeBerry said. “We will have to play good ball to win the series.”