Madison, Uniontown Legion win 8-4 to hand Connellsville first loss of the year
HOPWOOD – Unbeaten Connellsville and second-place Uniontown met Friday with each team putting a streak on the line. Connellsville sent out its 19-0 record while Uniontown countered with its ace Bob Madison, last year’s Fayette American Legion MVP pitcher who hasn’t lost in two years, to shut them down.
Something had to give, and it wasn’t Madison.
Behind nine hits and eight runs from his offense, Madison pitched Uniontown to its biggest win of the season with a complete game 8-4 victory over Connellsville.
“We beat the best team. It doesn’t get any better than that,” Uniontown coach Ron Popovich said. “They had a shot to sweep the season, but we were able to pull it out. It’s a huge win for us.”
Despite three home runs from Connellsville’s offense, Madison and the Uniontown defense held the first-place team to just four runs, thanks to three double plays that ended Connellsville rallies.
After Greg Palladino’s home run put Connellsville down 1-0 in the first inning, Connellsville put its leadoff batter on base. A force play at second retired the leadoff runner before Madison turned a 1-6-3 double play to end the inning.
In the third inning, Casey Eutsey, Bob Fulton and Wes Hughes all singled for Connellsville with one out to load the bases.
However, a ground ball by Andy Schleihauf was tracked down in the hole by Nick Midlik, who made the turn with his second baseman for a double play to end the threat.
“As the year went on it seemed like our defense kept slipping up. We had some errors today, but we came through with those huge double plays,” Popovich said. “They really changed the game.”
As his defense held Connellsville at bay, Madison helped his own cause with the bat on two separate occasions.
He delivered a two-run single in the fourth and a RBI-single in the fifth as Uniontown plated seven runs between the two innings, chasing Connellsville starter Chris Pepe out of the game.
The game looked in Uniontown’s hands until Connellsville showed off its power in the sixth inning.
Hughes led off with a double for Connellsville and scored when Andy Schleihauf lined a two-run homer to left field. With two runs in, Pepe, who also homered in his last at-bat, stepped to the plate.
Pepe went back-to-back as he belted his second home run of the game over the left-center field fence.
“They got a hold of those balls,” Connellsville coach Sherwood Hughes said. “I was kind of surprised we didn’t hit better than what we did, but Madison did a great job and kept us off-balance.”
From then on, the game was in Madison’s hands and it didn’t take him long to make sure his coach knew that as well.
Pepe came up to the plate in eighth inning with a runner on base and drew a 2-0 count, forcing Popovich to have a talk with his big right-hander.
“I actually called time with two balls on Pepe and told Bob that I was going to take him out of the game, but Big Bob said he wanted him and he came back to tie him up on the inside,” Popovich said of the at-bat that ended with Pepe striking out.
The win lengthened Madison’s winning streak to 14 games over the past two seasons, while Connellsville left with its first loss of the season.
“It’s a big win to boost us into the playoffs,” Popovich said. “This gives the guys all the confidence in the world and they are all pretty high right now.”