Three pitchers lead Carmichaels to 8-0 victory
CARMICHAELS — Three pitchers combined for a one-hitter for Carmichaels, as the Copperheads continued their winning ways in the Fayette County Baseball League with an 8-0 win over Mitch’s Bail Bonds Wednesday evening.
With the top spot already clinched in the playoffs, the Copperheads (22-0) are now two games away from completing back-to-back, undefeated seasons. Last year Carmichaels posted a 23-0 record, before the postseason was cancelled.
Carmichaels hosts Mill Run today at 6 p.m. and will make-up a game at New York Pizza on Friday night. Playoffs are tentatively scheduled to start on Sunday.
“We were a little flat today,” Copperheads’ skipper Dickie Krause said. “We were missing some people and we didn’t know what the weather was going to give us today. We got two forfeit wins the last two days, and we just didn’t have our normal energy. We know what’s ahead of us, and we know we have to play better these last two games.”
Tyler Delval, Chuck Gasti and Aaron Hill all pitched two innings apiece in the shutout victory before the game was called in the middle of the sixth due to darkness and the impending rain coming into the area.
All three pitchers combined for 12 strikeouts and worked around six walks in the win with Delval getting the start and Gasti picking up the victory in the circle.
“We wanted to get some of our arms some work in today,” Krause said. “We didn’t want to stretch anyone out and we wanted to get our guys some rest. I thought Tyler did a good job starting and we want him ready for the playoffs. Chuck and Aaron got some good work in today as well. Our pitching and our pitching depth are always key for us.”
J.W. Kayla reached first base off of an infield error in the bottom of the first, and after being sacrificed to second, Kayla came home on a RBI base knock by Chris Wastchok.
The Copperheads made it 2-0 in the second frame when Delval’s RBI single scored Joe Monica.
In the third inning, Wastchok launched a RBI triple that plated Clay Roman. Later in the inning, Gasti crossed home on a passed ball to make it 4-0.
Mitch’s Bail Bonds (10-14) had their only real scoring chance in the fourth, when Jacob Newton tallied a single, followed by an infield error and a walk to Tyler Sabatula to load the bases. Gasti got out of the inning after inducing a soft grounder to second.
Carmichaels collected four runs and sent nine batters to the plate in the fifth. Wastchok garnered his third RBI of the contest with a run-producing single.
“Chris has been hot the last two weeks,” Krause said. “He has been hitting the ball to all areas of the field and he has had a great year for us. He’s always in the middle of our line-up and he has a high pedigree coming from Peters Township (High School). I like his approach and he is just a smart hitter.”
Roman scored on a passed ball later in the inning and two more runs came around on defensive miscues by MBB.
Adam Jacko was tagged with the loss for the visitors, going four innings with two strikeouts and a free pass. Newton pitched the final inning for Mitch’s.
Hill tossed the final two frames for Carmichaels, registering a team-high five strikeouts.