Blaney wins easily
CARMICHAELS – With his baby boy watching his dad play for the first time, Scott Van Sickle smacked two home runs, doubled and had five RBIs, as Blaney Farms breezed to a 10-1 victory over Carmichaels Monday night in Fayette County League action. “We have been hitting the ball real well this year,” Van Sickle said. “With my son watching, everyone tells me I have to bring him all the time now. Having a son has definitely helped my maturity. We just have to keep it up and get ready for the playoffs which is a different animal.”
“Scottie is having a great year this year with the stick.” Blaney Farms manager Lou Pasquale said. “He is batting .560. Today was a great day. It always feels great to dominate a team.”
Blaney Farms used three three-run innings and great pitching from Marty Fagler to improve to 19-4-1.
Van Sickle led off the game with a double, and after a strikeout, Shayne Busti drove in Van Sickle for a 1-0 Blaney Farms lead.
In the second inning, Carmichael’s starter Justin Schrader got the first two batters out before Blaney exploded, starting with a walk to Jeremy Thomas.
Bill Rouse tripled in Thomas for the second run, before Van Sickle hit his first of two homers with a blast over the right field wall to put Blaney up 4-0.
Van Sickle hit his second round tripper in the fourth inning, with two runners aboard to practically the same spot in right field to put Blaney up 7-0.
After a Jason Greene single, Carmichaels manager Richard Krause took Schrader out of the game for reliever Chuck Gasti.
“Justin has been one of the better pitcher’s in the league and he was with the Wild Things last year, but today he didn’t have it,” Krause said. “Today was probably one of the worst games we have played since I’ve been here. We were not ready tonight, mentally or physically.”
With Blaney hitting the cover off the ball, it didn’t help that Fagler was having one of his usual dominant performances.
For the game, Fagler tossed six innings of three-hit ball. His only earned run came by way of the long ball, as Gene Franks hit one in the fourth inning to break up the shutout and narrow the gap to 7-1.
Fagler stuck out two and walked two batters.
Blaney picked up three more runs in the fifth as an error by the Copperhead’s third baseman let two runs in. With the game in hand 10-1, Fagler put it in cruise control for his final two innings.
Wes Kisner pitched a scoreless seventh inning for Blaney to put the game away.
“We just hit probably the lowest point of our season,” Krause said. “Tonight, we didn’t hit, we didn’t pitch, and we didn’t play defense.”
“We are 2-0-1 against this team,” Pasquale said. “Today, was one of those days were we just hit the ball really hard. In addition, Marty is probably one of the toughest lefties in this league. He pitched very well tonight. We will just get ready for tomorrow.”
Along with Van Sickle, Joby Lapkowicz contributed for Blaney coming off the bench in the fifth inning to record two doubles and a run scored. Greene chipped in with two base hits and Rouse rounded out the hitting in the ninth spot with a single and two RBIs to go along with his triple.
Blaney Farms will be back in action today as they host Waynesburg in Republic. On Wednesday, they will travel to Mill Run.
Carmichaels (11-8-2) will play Phil’s Tire today in Rostraver before hosting Bud Murphy’s on Wednesday.