Hempfield silences Connellsville’s bats
CONNELLSVILLE – Connellsville missed an opportunity to even its section record, and saw it drop to 1-3 instead with a 10-0 Section 2-AAAA loss to Hempfield Wednesday. The Spartans (1-2, 3-4) pounded out 10 hits in their first section win. Greg Meisner who had two hits and three RBIs led them offensively.
Meanwhile Hempfield pitcher John Veach-Dixon held the Falcons’ bats to just two hits.
“We knew Hempfield would swing the bats today. It’s like that with every team we face in the section, they hit the ball,” Falcons coach Brian Shipley said.
“Joey Leonard pitched well today and kept us in the ballgame, but we couldn’t generate any offense for him.”
The Falcon senior battled Hempfield through five innings, twice getting out of bases loaded jams and gave up four runs before fatigue set in at the end of the fifth. With Leonard moving from the mound to first base in the sixth, the Spartans struck for six runs in the top of the inning.
Hempfield’s Pat Costello singled to lead off the game. Danny Norris sacrificed him to second, and Patrick Kohl singled, putting runners at first and third. Misner’s ground ball to short scored Costello.
The Spartans loaded the bases before Leonard got Steve Bills to hit a ground ball to short to escape further damage.
Hempfield picked up another run in the second when Veach-Dixon doubled and came around to score on a single by Norris. The Spartans once again loaded the bases with two out before Andrew Zeigler grounded to first to get Leonard out of another jam.
Hempfield added two more in the fourth as Costello was safe on an error and Norris was nicked by a pitch. Both came around to score on Misner’s double.
“Joe Leonard is a very good ballplayer. I felt my kids did a good job at the plate getting some quality at-bats,” Spartan coach Denny Little said. “We got a real good pitching performance today from John Veach-Dixon. When you get that combination of quality at-bats and good pitching and defense good things happen.”
In the sixth Tyler Nicholson replaced Leonard. Nicholson gave up a walk and a hit to Costello and Norris, respectively. Both moved up a base on a passed ball, and then scored on a base hit by Kohl.
Meisner was safe on an error, and then Kyle McCullough beat out an infield hit. An error on the play allowed Kohl to score from third. The Spartans added three more runs in the inning with Casey Teagarden and Steve Bills getting run-producing hits.
In the bottom of the inning, Veach-Dixon gave up a walk to start but settled down to retire the next three batters to end the game because of the 10-run rule.
“We committed five errors today. It was our worst defensive game of the season,” Shipley said. “Hempfield is better than their record indicates. We hit some balls today but couldn’t get anything to fall in. When you make some mistakes like we did today you’re going to struggle.”
The Falcons (1-3, 2-7) will try to regroup today when they go on the road to face Norwin to make up a game that was rained out Monday. On Friday they are on the road again at Albert Gallatin.