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Uniontown legion takes opener

By Alan Smodic For The 3 min read

HOPWOOD – Uniontown got what it expected in game one of the Fayette American Legion championship series Sunday – a slugfest. And its bats stood up to the challenge.

Led by Joe Hoover and Nate Fike, Uniontown batted around in two separate innings – the first and third – and scored five runs in each inning en route to a 13-run, 17-hit performance for a 13-7 win and 1-0 series lead.

“Charleroi is a great hitting team,” Uniontown coach Ron Popovich said afterwards. “You know, I told the guys after our first inning that this was nowhere near over.

“I expected Charleroi to put up this many runs and to fight back. That’s just what they do with the bats.”

Hoover and Fike – the No. 3 and 4 hitters in the Uniontown lineup – combined to go 5-for-8 with four doubles, five RBI and three runs scored.

“Those two were big,” Popovich said. “They are our veterans of the team and have been around. We expect them to lead.”

Uniontown jumped out to an early lead after scoring five runs in the bottom half of the first inning.

Starting pitcher Cory Sawka led off with a single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. Hoover, Fike and Jake Barnhart then delivered consecutive doubles to knock in two runs.

The offense didn’t stop there as Jim Blosser and Tyler Palerno each drove in a run later in the inning for the 5-0 lead.

After Charleroi chipped two runs out of the lead, Uniontown tacked on another five runs in the third for an eight-run advantage.

Three singles from the bottom of the order set the table for the top, which drove in four runs total on Cory Borland’s single and Hoover’s second double of the game.

Charleroi’s offense, however, never gave up on trying to come back and go home with a victory. It continued to knock one and two runs off the Uniontown lead through the final innings of the game, thanks to a few big hits.

Kyle Fisher, Chris Chacko and Mario Fragello all homered for Charleroi – solo shots by Fisher and Chacko and a two-run homer for Fragello – to supply the runs on the scoreboard.

“Again, they have some hitters over there,” Popovich said. “We know how well they can hit the ball and it showed. We expect some more home runs out of them.”

Uniontown reliever J.C. Myers held off any Charleroi rally, though, pitching the final four innings in relief to close out the win.

Charleroi starter Justin Butch suffered the loss after being forced out of the game early in the third inning. He struck out two and walked two, while allowing 10 runs on nine hits.

“We’re thin on pitching,” Charleroi coach Luke Mollis said. “We were hoping to get some innings out of Justin today. He didn’t throw all that bad, but they just hit the ball and made him pay on mistakes.”

Mollis knows that his team needs to win game two and even the series for a better sshot at taking home the championship.

“We’re going to come back and get things going again,” he said. “I’d like to get this type of offense again, and I think if our pitcher gets on it will be a lower-scoring game.

“But we can’t go down two to a team like this, so we’ll pull out all the stops.”

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