Connellsville Legion evens playoff series with Colonial
ROWE’S RUN – Connellsville Legion, fighting for its playoff lives, held off a furious rally by Colonial for an 11-10 win to tie the best of three series at one game apiece Tuesday. Connellsville raced out to a 7-0 lead before Colonial fought back to take an 8-7 lead with a seven-run sixth inning.
Connellsville responded with four runs in the top of the ninth to take an 11-8 lead, and Colonial scored two in the bottom of the ninth before Connellsville was able to escape with the win.
Andy Schleihauf and Colton Wilhelm had three hits each for Connellsville. Schleihauf drove in two runs, and Ryan Craft picked up two hits and drove in three runs.
Colonial’s Matt Szuch homered for one of his three hits for Colonial. Tony Battaglini also picked up three hits and drove in four runs, and Neil Novak had a pair of RBIs.
Ben Herrington pitched the win for Connellsville, gutting out a hard nine innings in the 90-degree heat, while Battaglini was tagged with the loss, coming on in relief of starter Travis Van
“Ben has been giving us nine innings all year,” Connellsville manager John Przybylinski said. “He’s had some tough outings. We either have errors when he pitches or we don’t get him any runs. Today we gave him some help. He deserved the win today. It’s one of the best games he’s pitched all year.”
Connellsville took a 1-0 lead in the second when Tyler Onusko singled and eventually came around to score on a single by Bill Dye. Connellsville added two more in the third when Schleihauf scored on an error at short, and Andy Spargur singled to drive in Craft.
Connellsville opened up a 6-0 lead by scoring three runs in the fourth. Bill Dye was safe on an error, Brian Sherwood sacrificed him to second, Colton Wilhelm singled and Schleihauf was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Craft singled, driving in Dye and Wilhelm, and Andrew Kaper doubled to drive in Schleihauf, giving Connellsville a 6-0 lead.
That lead went to 7-0 in the top of the fifth when Sherwood singled with two out. Connellsville loaded the bases as Wilhelm singled and Schleihauf walked before Craft singled to drive in Sherwood.
Battaglini, who replaced Van Olst in the fourth inning, struck out Kaper to get out of the inning.
Colonial started to chip away at Connellsville’s lead in the bottom of the fifth when Erdely singled for his second hit of the day, Craig Novak singled, and an error in left allowed Erdely to go to third from where he scored on a ground ball to first by Battaglini.
The Colonial defense, which committed five errors, got a pair of defensive gems in the top of the sixth. Spargur singled to left for Connellsville. Erdely raced over from left to cut off the gap and made a strong throw to second, getting Spargur who was trying for two. Onusko then hit a shot to right for an apparent single, but Dave Novotney was on the ball quickly and got the force out at first. Battaglini then struck out Pastors to end the inning.
Colonial then put up seven runs in the bottom half of the inning to take the lead. Szuch homered to start the rally, Neil Novak was hit by a pitch, Tyler Charles walked and Drew Harvey singled. Erdely’s ground ball forced Harvey at second but it allowed Novak to score. Craig Novak was hit by a pitch to load the bases again. Battaglini doubled driving in Charles and Erdely. Battaglini overran second and was picked off 8-4 on the play, leaving Craig Novak at third. He scored on an error at short on a ball bit by Novotney. Joe Kulikoski was hit by a pitch, and Szuch up for a second time in the inning, walked to load the bases. Neil Novak singled to right driving in two runs giving Colonial an 8-7 lead.
“We battled and battled and fell a run short. I felt the difference was we gave up two many runs early in the game,” Colonial manager Doug Molchan said. “We were just going station to station and couldn’t get that base clearing hit, because this field plays fast. We’ll just go to Connellsville Wednesday and try to get a different outcome.”
Connellsville came back with four runs in the top of the ninth. Spargur walked with one out. Onusko hit a solid liner to second for out number two. Spargur then stole second and scored on Pastors single. An error on the play allowed pastors to move to second. Dye singled and then Sherwood singled driving in Pastors. Wilhelm drew a walk to load the bases, then Schleihauf singled driving in Dye and Sherwood, giving Connellsville and 11-8 lead.
In the bottom of the ninth, Colonial charged back once again. Harvey doubled with one out, Herrington struck out Erdely, and Craig Novak Battaglini singled, scoring Harvey. Novotney singled, then Kulikoski singled driving in Novak, leaving the bases loaded. Szuch popped up a foul ball that just stayed in play with Schleihauf making the catch to end the game.
“This was a great game tonight. Hopefully this will give us some momentum going into the third game,” Przybylinski said.
The deciding game in the series will be played at 5:30 p.m. today in Connellsville.