Laurel Highlands edges Albert Gallatin in 8 innings
MASONTOWN – Through five innings Laurel Highlands had blown a five-run lead, committed seven errors and was trailing Albert Gallatin 10-7. With their WPIAL playoff hopes on the line, the Mustangs suddenly composed themselves and played almost flawless baseball the rest of the way to earn a hard-fought 11-10 win over the Colonials in eight innings at Masontown-German Park on Tuesday.
Greg Palladino drove in the go-ahead run with an RBI double in the top of the eighth, and winning pitcher Andre Rolaf made sure it held up as Laurel Highlands pulled into a second-place tie with AG in Section 2-AAA.
The hit capped a 3-for-5 day for Palladino, who drove in four runs with a home run and two doubles.
“They beat us at our place by one run in extra innings, so I didn’t want to leave here without winning,” Palladino said. “We made sure we kept our heads in the game. I tried to do whatever it took for us to win.”
The Mustangs also helped Connellsville (5-2) clinch at least a share of another section crown with the victory.
Both LH and AG are 4-3 in the section and still control their own destiny. Laurel Highlands is at Uniontown and Albert Gallatin is at Connellsville on Thursday. If both win, of if both lose, both will qualify for the postseason. A win by one and a loss by the other will eliminate the defeated team. An Albert Gallatin win will create a two-way, and possible three-way, tie for the section championship.
The Mustangs evened their overall record at 6-6-1, while the Colonials fell to 8-7.
“We didn’t quit,” LH coach Tom Landman said. “We hung in there and pulled it together. This was a big win for us. I want to commend Albert Gallatin. They’re a class group. They battled back from five runs down, took the lead and it seemed like we could never catch up. Coach (Dan) Palm has done a great job with that team this year. I wish them well.”
The Mustangs may not have caught up if not for what looked like a harmless bunt single in the fifth.
Laurel Highlands jumped on AG starter Josh Null for five runs in the first inning. Justin Luckey led the game off with a double and scored when Brennan Dayton’s sacrifice bunt was misplayed for an error. Palladino hit a two-run homer to make it 3-0 and Rolaf kept the inning alive with a two-out single. Kenny Riddell doubled in Rolaf and Josh Guittap singled in Riddell for a 5-0 lead.
Albert Gallatin fought back against LH starter Luckey. Scott Piper hit the first of his two sacrifice flies in the bottom of the first to make it 5-1. Ken Cerny’s run-scoring single in the second was followed by Craig Hriblan’s single and Sean McCahill’s game-tying three-run homer.
Luckey, who gave up five unearned runs on four hits in 2 2-3 innings, was replaced on the mound by Nick Midlick, who allowed five runs, two of which were earned, on six hits in 3 1-1 innings.
The Colonials went up 8-5 in the fourth thanks to Piper’s second sacrifice fly, which was dropped for a two-base error, and consecutive run-scoring singles by Alan Smodic and Null.
Null was cruising at this point, having retired 10 in a row until Luckey laid down a bunt single to lead off the fifth. The hits seemed to ignite the Mustang offense and unsettle Null, who wouldn’t retire two consecutive batters the rest of the game. He allowed 10 runs, seven of which were earned, on 12 hits in seven innings.
“I think hit bunt hit gave us the spark we needed,” Landman said. “We got in a groove after that.”
Albert Gallatin coach Dan Palm thought the hit was big as well.
“It was a huge play,” Palm said. “In the long run, that might have won the game for them. The kid did what he thought he had to do to get his team going and it worked.”
After Luckey’s single, Paul Briczinski hit a one-out single, Palladino followed with an RBI double and Frank Faust hit a sacrifice fly to make it 8-7.
Albert Gallatin answered with two more runs in the top of the fifth on back-to-back RBI singles by Cerny and Hriblan, who had three hits and a walk to lead the Colonial offense.
Laurel Highlands cut the lead back to one, 10-9, with two runs in the top of the sixth. Guittap singled, D.J. Yonash walked and Luckey again helped his team with the bunt, moving both runners up with a sacrifice. Dayton singled in Guittap, and Yonash scored when Briczinski foiled AG’s attempt at turning an inning-ending double play by hustling down the line and barely beating the relay throw to first.
The Mustangs tied things up in the seventh. Faust drew a lead-off walk and moved to second on Riddell’s one-out single. Null struck out Guittap to bring up Yonash, the No. 9 batter, as LH’s final hope, and the senior delivered by lining the first pitch into left field to bring in Faust from second with the tying run.
“I wanted to be aggressive,” Yonash said. “I had a hard time hitting Null all day, so I told myself I had to bear down and get a hit and help my team.”
Landman called on Rolaf to relieve Midlick at that point and the right-hander was over-powering. He pitched a perfect seventh to send the game into extra innings, getting the last two outs on swinging strikes.
Dayton began the Mustangs’ winning rally by reaching on an error, advancing to second on a wild pitch and scoring on Palladino’s ringing double to left-center.
“Greg has exceptionally quick hands and he was a big help to us today,” Landman said.
Rolaf retired the first two Colonials in the bottom of the inning, but Smodic hit a two-strike single to right and moved to second on a wild pitch before Rolaf wrapped up the win with a strikeout. He allowed just one hit with three strikeouts in two scoreless innings.
“He did an excellent job,” Palm said. “He threw hard and he threw strikes.”
Luckey, Riddell and Guittap each had two hits for LH.
Cerny had two hits, reached back four times, scored four runs and drove in two. Smodic also had two hits for the Colonials.
Palm is hoping his team can bounce back after the heart-breaking loss. The Colonials were 4-1 in the section a week ago and needed just one win in its final three section games to secure a playoff berth, but losses at Ringgold and to LH have put their backs against the wall.
“This was extremely emotional, especially with all that was on the table,” Palm said. “We came back from 5-0 and we rallied against Ringgold, too, before losing, and that shows our kids are fighters. But they still have to learn what it takes to get over the top.
“Laurel Highlands is an excellent team, very well coached. For them to get their lead taken away, which could completely deflate most teams, and to come back and win like they did, I’ve got to give them a lot of credit.
“It was a fight all the way to the end. They just wound up throwing the last punch.”