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Uniontown falls in extra innings

By Bradley Schlegel for The 4 min read

WEST WYOMISSING — Nanticoke scored two unearned runs in the top of the 10th inning to post a 5-3 victory over Uniontown on Thursday in the Pennsylvania American Legion state tournament.

Michael Sulcoski’s single off Luke Paull snapped a 3-3 tie and allowed Post 350 to remain alive in the double-elimination tournament.

Troy Kifer finished with three hits for Uniontown (32-5), which absorbed its season-ending loss. Giuseppe Schiano, Ted Sova and Travis Sankovich each added two hits.

“This is a terrible feeling,” said Sankovich, the team’s third baseman.

Sulcoski finished with three hits and drove in three runs for Nanticoke (26-3) which will take on Red Land on Friday. Tyler Myers and Christian Pack each scored twice. John Wickiser tossed 1 2/3 shutout innings in relief to earn the victory.

Six Uniontown errors led to four unearned runs for Post 350. Three of them occurred in the top of the 10th inning, when Nanticoke scored twice to snap a 3-3 tie.

“We can’t win a Fayette County League game, let alone a state playoff game, making six errors,” said manager Bradley Yohman, whose team scored once in the bottom of the ninth to force extra innings. “We had the momentum heading into the 10th inning, but we gave it away.”

Consecutive errors by Kifer at shortstop to open the inning set up the rally. Tyler Myers reached on a throwing error by the shortstop leading off the top of the 10th, and Pack got to first on a fielding error.

“Troy has been a fantastic player all year,” Yohman said. “He just picked a bad time to have a bad day.”

Myers scored on a Sulcoski’s single to shallow right field. His slide beat the throw from Uniontown right fielder Schiano, which bounced past catcher Zach Uhazie.

After Mike Bugonowicz received an intentional walk to load the bases, Paull hit Mike Blazaskie with a pitch to force in the final run.

Uniontown — which scored individual runs in the fourth, fifth and ninth innings to erase an early 3-0 deficit — threatened in the bottom of the 10th. Uhazie worked a lead-off walk. But Nanticoke’s infield turned its third double play to end the game.

“We should have scored more runs in the 10th inning,” Sankovich said.

Post 350 scored three runs on three hits in the first inning against Uniontown starting pitcher Bobby Bricker.

Myers reached on an error and advanced to third on a single by Pack and a fielding error. Both runners scored on Bugonowicz’s double to left.

Bugonowicz eventually scored on Kyle Pokrinchak’s ground out to put his team ahead 3-0.

The Region 6 champions got within 3-1 in the bottom of the fourth. Sova, who reached on an infield hit, was sacrificed to second and scored on a single by Dominic Peroni.

The team made it 3-2 with an unearned run in the fifth. Sankovich reached on an infield error to open the inning, was sacrificed to second, took third on a ground ball and scored on Kifer’s single to center.

Sova followed with a single to center, but Pokrinchak stranded Uniontown runners on second and third.

Sankovich led off the bottom of the seventh with a single. But the potential tying run never advanced. Luke Wallace popped up an attempted sacrifice, and Luke Boyle rolled into an inning-ending double play.

In the eighth, Uniontown’s initial two hitters reached base. But Uhazie fouled off two sacrifice attempts before popping out. Then the Nanticoke pitcher induced two grounders to Pack at shortstop to end the threat.

Uniontown forced extra innings with a run in the bottom of the ninth. Schiano led off the inning with a triple and scored on Sankovich’s infield hit.

Wickiser came on to record the final two outs, including a strikeout with the bases loaded to end the inning.

“I kept waiting for a big hit in one of those innings,” Yohman said. “We should have blown the game open.”

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