Uniontown outlasts Masontown in Legion play
MASONTOWN – Statistically, this game had a little bit of everything: a combination of 28 runs of which 14 came in one inning, 25 hits surrendered by five pitchers and two managers with the patience of Job. Uniontown scored 11 runs in the fourth inning to pull away, then held off a late Masontown comeback to clinch a 16-12 win in their free-wheeling Fayette County American Legion Baseball game Monday.
Uniontown went up 4-0 in the top of the third, led by Santino Sloboda’s three-run homer, and Chris Buncic duplicated that in the home third, cutting the deficit to 4-3, before Uniontown broke up the proceedings.
Uniontown manager Ron Popovich said, “We hit the ball well, and that home run was a big boost to get us going. You can expect almost anything to happen when these two teams get together. It’s the continuation of the big rivalry that Uniontown has with Albert Gallatin in scholastic baseball.”
Ryan Gondek pitched the first five innings for Uniontown, ceding all of Masontown’s runs and nine hits, before giving way to Josh Guittap in the sixth after pitching to four batters.
Popovich said, “The humidity got to Gondek and we didn’t want to leave him in, so we made the change and Josh came in and held them scoreless.”
Masontown manager Sean O’Neil added, “We made a good comeback after falling behind like we did, but we just ran out of time and daylight. We had some players missing today and we had to shuffle some around, and our defense wasn’t as strong as it had been. We played errorless ball the last four games, but made up for it today.”
Uniontown’s 15 hits included Sloboda’s homer and five RBIs, Paul Briczinski’s double and two singles, and two hits each by Dan Fuller, Brad Yohman and Eric Darr. Masontown counted Buncic’s homer, Craig Hriblan’s double and single, and two singles apiece by Bob Epley, Ryan Jenkins and Mike Budinsky.
Uniontown (7-3 overall, 6-2 Legion) led 4-0 in the third on Brennan Dayton and Dave Landman singles, an error and Sloboda’s long clout into the left field trees. Masontown came right back with three on Josh Null and Adam Weakland singles and Buncic’s high shot over the left-center fence.
Uniontown wrapped it up in the fourth, with 15 batters going to the plate and 11 scoring. Fuller, Briczinski, Yohman and Gondek all had singles, while Darr had two hits in the inning. They sandwiched this around a hit batsman and five errors. Masontown came right back with three in its end of the inning on Josh Franks’ and Jenkins’ singles, Hriblan’s double and Mike Budinsky’s single.
Uniontown closed its scoring in the fifth on a walk to Aaron Lowden, and Yohman and Darr singles. Masontown finished with four in its end of the inning on walks to Craig Santella and Brian O’Neil, around an error, and Epley, Jenkins, Hriblan and Budinsky singles.
O’Neil added, “We have four games to play this week, with makeups, and right now our roster is a little thin, but we will go with who we have available.”
Uniontown will be at home Wednesday, against Carmichaels at Hutchinson Field at 6 p.m.