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Win keeps LH’s playoffs hopes alive

By Jim Downey 4 min read

Mustangs down Red Raiders WHARTON TWP. – The Laurel Highlands baseball team has been riding the crest of a wave now 11 games long, winning for the 10th time in that span with a 9-3 road victory over Uniontown Tuesday.

The Mustangs (11-9) now must wait for the outcome of today’s Section 2-AAA contest with Derry hosting Yough. Yough enters the game with a section record of 1-10 and losers of the past 11 games while the Trojans sport a 7-4 section mark. A Cougars’ victory allows Laurel Highlands to tie for third place, the final berth into next week’s WPIAL playoffs.

“We’re really playing excellent baseball,” said Laurel Highlands coach Tom Landman. “Hopefully, we can be in the playoffs and extend our season.”

Landman was pleased with the start of the Mustangs who scored four unearned runs in their first at-bat. The Red Raiders’ defense let down in the first, committing three errors to put the offense behind early.

Leadoff batter Darryl Gesso battled Uniontown starting pitcher Nathan Fike, fouling off three pitches before stroking a single up the middle. He advanced to third on a passed ball and wild pitch before scoring on a mishandled infield grounder off the bat of James Blosser.

Blosser was forced at second on Nick Midlik’s ground ball, but the offense caught a reprieve when winning pitcher Joe Hoover’s foul ball down the left field line was dropped, leading to a walk. Rich Kolesar’s ground ball was thrown away to score Midlik.

Uniontown drew an out closer when first baseman Ryan Robowski’s throw was on the mark to catcher Josh King to nail Hoover at the plate for the second out. Laurel Highlands wasn’t done though, with Ben Eddy and Chris Miller capping the first inning with RBI-singles.

“Everything we did so well throughout the season, today we didn’t do. Our pitchers have carried us and our defense played well. We didn’t have our best game,” said Uniontown coach Rob Kezmarsky.

Uniontown rallied the troops in the bottom of the inning to slice into the Mustangs’ lead. With Matt George standing on third after a fielder’s choice, error and passed ball, Robowski launched a fly ball over the right centerfield fence to cut the deficit in half.

“Uniontown answered back. To our credit, we were fortunate,” said Landman.

The Red Raiders were in position to draw even closer with runners at first and third with one out in the bottom of the third inning. Hoover reached back to take care of the threat by himself by striking out Fike and Steven Kezmarsky on nine pitches.

“That was the turning point of the game,” said Landman. “He kept it 4-2 with two runners on and no outs.

“Hoover really settled down. He moved the ball around and we had good defense around him.”

Stranding runners became an all too familiar site for the Uniontown faithful.

The Red Raiders stranded single runners in the second, fourth, fifth and sixth innings in addition to the pair left on base in the third.

“We left a lot of runners on base. We had a chance to come back at 4-2,” said Kezmarsky.

Bolstered by the reprieve, the Mustangs went on the offensive in the top of the fifth by scoring four more runs.

Midlik opened the inning with a slicing line drive along the right field line for a triple. Hoover helped himself with an RBI-single. He moved to third on Rich Kolesar’s single along the left field line with Kolesar moving to second on the throw.

Cory Borland’s single brought Hoover home. Ben Eddy’s sacrifice fly drove Kolesar home with Borland moving to third when the errant throw home bounced into the Laurel Highlands dugout. Jake Barnhart, pinch-hitting for Miller, plated the final run with a single.

James Blosser, the ninth Mustang to bat, ended the inning on an infield ground out.

Midlik finished the scoring for the Mustangs in the sixth, opening the inning plunked by a Nick Apicella pitch. He eventually scored on Borland’s ground out to second.

Uniontown had one more run in the offense, using an error to score the run. Rodney Turner singled with one out and moved to second on an errant pickoff throw. He scored when Alan Witt smacked a single to center.

Laurel Highlands closes the regular season at 11-9 while the Red Raiders (6-8, 5-6) host Albert Gallatin in the Section 2-AAAA finale.

“The Albert Gallatin game is important for us. It’s Senior Day and we have a chance to finish .500 in the section. It’s important to finish .500 for the season,” said Kezmarsky.

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