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Wildcats’ bats alive in 11-1 win at Connellsville

By Kevin Harrison for The 4 min read

CONNELLSVILLE — It was a day more suited for football, but Connellsville and visiting Greater Latrobe managed to play an important baseball game through the blustery conditions. Both teams were locked in a battle for the third playoff spot in section 2-AAAA.

It was a simple case of the Wildcats coming in ready to play and hitting almost everything Connellsville threw at them to take an 11-1 win to sweep the season series with the Falcons and seriously damage any hopes Connellsville has at making the postseason.

“Latrobe outpitched us and outhit us today,” Connellsville’s Rob Orndorff said. “They didn’t out-field us because we didn’t put the ball in play. Their pitcher threw a great game, staying ahead in the count and keeping us off balance.

That winning pitcher was sophomore Zach Kokoska, who worked out of a couple of jams and helped his cause at the plate, finishing with two extra-base hits, two runs scored and three RBI.

Latrobe (4-4, 9-8), jumped on the Falcons early with four runs in the first inning. Josh Verchuck drew a one-out walk. Seth Holler also drew a walk. Both runners scored on a double from Kokoska. Mike Rodgers singled putting runners at first and third and then advanced to second without at throw. Doug Cengia singled, driving in both runs.

“We talked about being aggressive and putting some runs up in the first inning,” Latrobe’s Matt Basciano said. “We challenged them after some tough losses last week and really responded today.”

The Falcons (3-5, 8-7) had a chance to get back into the game in the bottom of the second. Austin Puskar led off the inning with a single. Ben Ream was hit by a pitch, putting runners at first and second. Kokoska got Ryan Anderson to ground out to second, allowing the runners to advance. He struck out John Przybylinski and then issued a walk to Dakota McWilliams to load the bases. He was able to get out of the inning getting Brock Bonadio to fly out to center.

The Wildcats added three more runs in the top of the third. Jake Stemmerich doubled to drive in two runs and scored on a single from Cengia, giving the Wildcats a 7-0 lead. Holler singled to drive in a run in the fourth and Vince Guerrieri had an RBI single in the fifth to extend the Latrobe lead to 9-0.

“We’re in a tight battle with Connellsville and Penn-Trafford for that last playoff spot. Today was like a playoff game for us and the kids responded,” Basciano said. “We overcame some errors, but overall we played a pretty complete game. I can’t say enough about how these guys bounced back after last week. We’ve got to keep it going.”

The Falcons scored their run in the bottom of the fifth. McWilliams was safe on an error. He moved to second on a wild pitch and a passed ball moved him to third. Jimmy Malone’s ground out to second brought the run home.

Latrobe put the 10-run rule into effect with two runs in the top of the sixth. Holler doubled and scored on a triple from Kokoska. Rodgers doubled to drive in Kokoska.

“Latrobe was much improved from the last time we saw them,” Orndorff said. “I give coach Basciano a huge amount of credit. He had his team well prepared today and we didn’t get the job done on our end.”

For the Falcons to have a chance to make the playoffs they have to win at Norwin and Albert Gallatin this week, and hope that Penn-Trafford and Hempfield to knock off Latrobe.

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