Connellsville falls to Penn-Trafford
CONNELLSVILLE – Prior to Friday’s Connellsville-Penn-Trafford baseball game, Connellsville baseball field was renamed in honor of former coach Tom Sankovich who guided the Falcons program to four WPIAL titles and one PIAA championship. Through the first four innings of the Section 1-AAAA contest against Penn-Trafford, the Falcons did things expected of a Connellsville team.
They manufactured a run in the third with a couple of beautiful bunts. Andrew Kapur made an outstanding defensive play in right field in the fourth inning. Not only did he make the catch, but he threw a strike to catcher Drew Harvey to cut down the runner at the plate, trying to complete the double play.
However, Penn-Trafford is ranked third in the WPIAL and broke open a close 3-2 game by scoring five runs in the fifth and six more in the sixth inning to defeat the Falcons 14-2.
“We were playing right with Penn-Trafford today,” Falcons coach Brian Shipley said. “But once again we make a base-running mistake that could have tied the game. Then we walked a couple of guys and gave up some hits, and all of sudden, they’ve got five runs.
“Penn-Trafford executed when they had to. They’re solid and don’t make many mistakes, and hit the ball. That’s why they’re the third ranked team in the WPIAL.”
P-T jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first. Chris Rasky led off with a triple, then Tim Cortazzo drew a walk and stole second. Both runners scored on a base hit by Mike Cima.
The Warriors picked up another run in the inning on an RBI single by Eric Anderson.
The Falcons scratched back, scoring one in the bottom of the first when Joe Leonard singled and scored on a double from Drew Harvey who finished the day with three hits and two RBIs.
The Falcons closed to within one in the third. Brian Sherwood beat out a bunt for a base hit. Colton Wilhelm laid down another bunt to sacrifice the runner to second. Harvey singled again to drive in Sherwood.
“Harvey has battled to be the starter since the beginning of the season, and over the last few games he has proven he deserves to be in there,” Shipley said. “He’s doing a great job behind the plate, blocking the ball and has thrown some runners out, plus he is hitting the ball. We need more people in our line-up to step it up like he has.”
The Falcons wasted an opportunity to tie the game in the fourth inning. Ben Herrington doubled with one out and gave way to courtesy runner Jason Smith who eventually stole third. However P-T starter Zach Satira retired the next two batters to end the threat.
In the fifth Penn-Trafford scored five runs with Mike Kochasic driving in two, while Anderson, Cima and Andrew Barton collected RBIs in the inning to give the Warriors an 8-2 lead.
“We came into this game a little lazy, thinking all we had to was show up. It took a little wake-up call and the kids responded well,” P-T coach Ron Evans said. “We have a lot of seniors on this team. They realized they were in a ball game and were able suck it up and get the job done.”
Penn-Trafford put the game out of reach in the sixth with a six-run burst as Kochasic had a two-run double, Chris Rasky drove in two with a base hit and Chad Thomas had an RBI.
The Falcons failed to score in the bottom half of the inning as the game ended because of the ten-run rule.
Both teams have a heavy schedule next week. Penn-Trafford will be at home Monday against Latrobe; that same day the Falcons go on the road to face Norwin.
“We have three tough section games next week,” Shipley said. “We can’t get down, we’ve got to bounce back. We need to win at least two of those games to remain in the playoff hunt.”