May 7, 2002 By Jim Kriek For The 4 min read

Tommy Landman might have found a new way for his Laurel Highlands baseball team to win -let them fall behind at the start. For the fourth game, the host Mustangs fell behind then came back to win, and this time, the 6-2 win over Uniontown was really a big one for it put LH to the WPIAL playoffs. For that matter, Laurel Highlands gaining the playoffs was a comeback effort all the way.

Brad Yohman pitched a strong seven-hitter and Kevin Martin led the eight-hit offense as the Mustangs (13-5) rebounded from a 2-0 deficit at the start to salvage their 13th win and pull even with Uniontown (10-7) in the Section 2-AAA standings at 5-5 each.

Going into the game, LH faced a “must win” situation to gain the playoffs.

Uniontown was 5-4 and LH 4-5 in section play, and a Mustang win would put both into post-season play.

Everything was tied for them in section play, both losing twice to champion Connellsville and splitting with all the other teams.

Landman called the win “a real outstanding effort by us and by Brad in particular. This is a very big win for Brad, and it came in what was really a typical game between two old rivals.

“This was the fourth game in which we fell behind and then came back to win, and really, the comeback was a long one for us all season.

“There was a time when we were 1-3 and then 2-5, and things looked rather bleak, but we made it back and gained the playoffs.”

The Mustang defense made only one error, of which Landman said, “Other than the first inning, our defense was strong, and that was also big factor behind Brad.”

Yohman had a shaky start, but after the first inning, he was nigh untouchable. Uniontown took its only lead in the first when Brandon Mallick was safe on an error, leading off. With one down, Jared Early and Howie King hit successive doubles.

From that point until the seventh, no Uniontown runner got past second base, and only two got that far. In the seventh, Ricky Wilson and Matt Greene singled and moved ahead on an out for the deepest Raider move after the first. Yohman struck out four and didn’t issue a walk.

King tagged him for a double and single, and Greene had two singles.

Yohman said, “My slider wasn’t all that effective today, and my curve could have been better, but my fastball was working very well. So, we were using the curve as a setup pitch and then coming in with the fastball. They got a couple hits in the seventh, but that didn’t bother me. Really, I like to pitch in tight spots.”

Landman added, “When we were down two runs in the second, I told our players that right there was where we had to shut them down for if they could have scored another run or two they might have been tough to catch. So, it was time for us to shut them down and at the same time get on the board ourselves. They responded to that with a big effort.”

Uniontown coach Mark Edenfield said, “The key to this one was Yohman’s pitching. He just shut us down completely after the first inning.

“They also got a big soft-liner double play in the sixth, which didn’t help us any either. We were getting runners on, but then Yohman shut us down. We just couldn’t move them around.”

Laurel Highlands had eight hits, led by Martin with a home run and two singles, Steve Strange with a double and single and Santino Sloboda a triple.

The Mustangs went ahead for good, 3-2, in their second on singles by Martin, Ryan Gondek and Eric Darr, around Strange’s double.

Martin made it 4-2 in the third with a high shot over the fence in right, and two more runs in the fifth closed scoring.

Paul Bruczinski walked to lead off and was forced by Sloboda, who went to third on Martin’s single and scored on a pickoff throw error. Martin went to third on the error and scored on Strange’s single.

Uniontown still has one game remaining, playing at home Wednesday with Geibel Catholic.

Originally, the Raiders were to have played Southmoreland, but the latter team pulled out and was replaced by Geibel. It will be “Senior Day” for UHS.