Aug 1, 2006 By The 6 min read

Mario’s jumped on Waynesburg early for the second day in a row and cruised to a 9-2 victory to sweep their best-of-three first-round series in Fayette County Baseball League playoff action on Monday. Chris McManus homered and doubled in driving in five runs, and Scott Van Sickle and Jason Greene each also had two hits as the league’s top seed advanced to the best-of-five semifinals.

Mario’s jumped out to a 5-0 lead on Sunday in winning Game 1 at home, 13-2.

On Monday, they pushed across four runs in the first inning and never looked back.

Van Sickle started the early rally with a lead-off walk and Greene was hit by a pitch. After the two pulled off a double steal, Jeff Lapkowicz walked to load the bases and McManus hit a two-run double. Matt Rechicar followed with an RBI groundout and Jim Cales added a sacrifice fly to make it 4-0.

“It was the same thing we did Sunday,” Greene said. “We jumped out and sort of put them behind the eight ball early and rolled from there.”

Waynesburg countered with one run in the bottom of the first, but Mario’s scored once in the second and then blew the game open with a three-run fifth, highlighted by McManus’ two-run homer, to make it 8-1.

Winning pitcher Ryan Robowski allowed two runs on five hits with one walk and three strikeouts in five innings. Marty Fagler finished up with two scoreless frames, giving up one hit and one walk, to earn a save.

Lapkowicz contributed a double for manager Lou Pasquale’s squad, which won the regular-season title.

Losing pitcher Brandon Rumbaugh surrendered eight hits and four walks with three strikeouts in going the distance.

J.W. Kayla collected three of Waynesburg’s six hits, and Rumbaugh and Brent Shimek each had a double.

Waynesburg finished eighth during the regular season and defeated Potter’s Clubhouse in a pigtail game to earn the right to face Mario’s in the quarterfinals.

Mario’s will next face the lowest seed remaining at the conclusion of the quarterfinals.

Bud Murphy’s 13, Mill Run 3 – A six-run third inning broke the game open for the Cokers as Bud Murphy’s tied the best-of-3 series with a road victory at Mill Run.

The deciding game will be today at 5:45 p.m. at Breakneck Field.

Bud’s scored two runs in the top of the first and three more in the second, but Mill Run countered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second.

The visitors’ offense came alive in the top of the fourth, sparked by Brian Sankovich’s two-run triple. Kevin Hiles brought home a run with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly, and Brian Shipley and Mark Riggin had RBI-singles. The sixth run scored on a throwing error.

Bud Murphy’s scored a single run in the fifth and capped its scoring in the sixth on Wes Hughes’ solo home run.

Casey Shultz (1-0) went six innings for the victory, allowing two earned runs on six hits with two strikeouts and no walks. Brian Hilbert allowed a run on three hits in the seventh.

Sankovich added a double to his hitting night to drive in four runs. Shipley had three hits and three RBIs. Riggin just missed hitting for the cycle with a triple, double and single, driving in three runs. Ryan Miscik smacked a couple of singles in the win.

Bill Bendis took the loss, the first of four pitchers used by Mill Run. Dennis Show, Jeremy Miller and Rich Orndorff all had two hits for Mill Run. Ryan Firestone had a triple.

Carmichaels 14, California 10 – Carmichaels blew an early five-run lead, then stormed back from a four-run deficit to defeat California and sweep their series 2-0.

Brent Baker drove in three runs with a triple and a double, Gene Franks and Brad Baker both had a double and two singles, and Charlie Humes homered for manager Dickie Krause’s Copperheads.

Dan Burkintas threw 4 1-3 innings in relief to earn the win. He allowed three runs on four hits with two walks and four strikeouts.

Humes hit a two-run homer in a five-run first for second-seeded Carmichaels, but California tied it with five runs in the second, then went up 9-5 on Garrett Balas’ grand slam in the third.

Carmichaels tallied three runs in the fifth to pull within one.

The Copperheads went ahead 12-9 with a four-run sixth against losing pitcher Andy Galis. Brent Baker’s RBI triple and Franks’ run-scoring single were the key hits in the inning, and Carmichaels hung on from there.

Joe Leonard and Josh Pratt had two hits apiece in the Copperheads’ 16-hit attack.

Rob Galis and Balas each had two hits for seventh-seeded California.

Wana B Heros 3, Redd Dawgs 2 – Jamie Kowalczyk’s two-out RBI single in the bottom of the seventh lifted Wana B Heros past Redd Dawgs to complete a two-game sweep of their series.

Winning pitcher Bobby Madison tossed a complete game, allowing nine hits and one walk with four strikeouts.

Fourth-seeded Redd Dawgs trailed 2-1 going into the final inning, but pulled even when Nate Hester singled with one out, took third on Trevor Consavage’s double and scored on Justin Murphy’s RBI fielder’s choice.

Fifth-seeded Wana B Heros went to work against losing pitcher Tim Latham in the bottom of the seventh when Anderson drew a lead-off walk. Jono Menhart singled one out later, but Anderson was thrown out at third on Drew Denham’s fielder’s choice, leaving two out with two outs. Kowalczyk then ripped a shot to deep right-center field to easily score Menhart with the winning run.

“It was a well-pitched, well-played game with no errors,” Wana B Heros manager Jeff Denham said. “We beat a good team. (Redd Dawgs manager) Dan Palm always has his team ready to play.

“But our kids never say die. We’re excited to be in the second round.”

Wana B Heros took a 1-0 lead in the third on Anderson’s run-scoring single, but Redd Dawgs tied it in the third on Murphy’s RBI double.

Wana B Heros went up 2-1 in the fifth on Drew Denham’s RBI single.

Denham and Menhart both had a double and a single, and Craig Hriblan also doubled for Wana B Heros.

Latham pitched 3 1-3 innings of relief in taking the loss. Hester had two hits for Redd Dawgs.