Paull, Kifer lead LH past rival Uniontown, 11-0
Christine Pocratsky
Laurel Highlands’ Garrett Kopich safely slides back to first base as Uniontown’s Carter Waligura attempts the tag in a Section 4-AAA game at Hutchinson Park. Both players are included on the Herald-Standard All-Area team.
Christine Pocratsky
Laurel Highlands’ Luke Paull pitches against Uniontown during their Section 4-AAA game at Hutchinson Park. Paull allowed one hit in five innings in the Mustangs’ 11-0 victory over the Red Raiders.
Uniontown's Colby Simmons gets back to second base safely as Laurel Highlands' Troy Kifer attempts to tag him during Section 4-AAA Monday at Hutchinson Park.
Laurel Highlands’ Luke Paull held Uniontown to one hit in five inning and the Mustangs remained perfect in Section 4-AAA play with an 11-0 victory over their cross-town rivals on Monday at Hutchinson Field.
Paull, who pitched a no-hitter against West Mifflin on Wednesday, allowed a first-inning double to Colby Simmons, but shut down the Red Raiders’ offense the rest of the way in earning the win on the mound.
Paull had eight strikeouts and didn’t walk a batter in his five innings. Paull had a stretch where he sent down 12 Uniontown batters in a row.
“I was just throwing strikes and trusting my defense,” Paull said. “I know that if the ball is put in play, my defense will get the out. I don’t even look at the scoreboard when I’m pitching and treat every inning like it is 0-0 no matter what the score is.
“We have all be playing together for a long time, going back to travel ball before high school and have developed good chemistry. We work out everyday in the offseason except on Sunday. It’s a family.”
Austin Dorogi came on in relief for Paull in the sixth, and only allowed one hit, another double by Simmons, in two innings. He had four strikeouts and walked one.
“I thought Luke threw the ball well again tonight and he gives us a chance to win every time he steps on the mound,” DeBerry said. “We took Luke out after the fifth so we could get Austin some work because he hadn’t thrown many innings due to the shorter games, and anytime you can allow your starting pitcher to not throw as many innings, it’s a good thing.”
We are not going to hit the cover off the ball every game, but if we have good pitching and defense, we have a chance to win.”
LH (7-0, 9-1) came out strong in the first with three runs on four hits off Uniontown (3-4, 4-7) starter Mark Fike.
Lucas Boyle led off the game with a single and moved to second on Troy Kifer’s single. Hudson Novak’s RBI single scored Boyle for a 1-0 LH lead, and both Kifer and Novak moved to second and third on the play at the plate.
Dom Peroni’s two-run single plated Kifer and Novak for the 3-0 lead. Fike was able to settle down and get out of the inning without any further damage.
Kifer was five-for-five with double, four singles, three RBIs and three runs scored.
“The No. 1 thing about Troy is that he is a great kid,” DeBerry said. “And No. 2, you know he is going to come out every day and play the game. He is a spark plug for us and one of our main guys. It means everything to us when he plays the way he did today.”
Fike took the loss but was able to settle down after a rough first, and held a good-hitting Mustangs squad off the board for the next three innings.
“I thought he did a great job of adjusting and keeping us off balance the whole game,” DeBerry said. “Our hitters really struggled against him outside of the first four batters of the game, but hat’s off to him.
“He made the adjustment, kept us out front and we really didn’t hit anything hard off him. I am not going to say that we had a bad day at the plate. He made us have a bad day at the plate.”
Uniontown coach Ken Musko was proud of the way his pitcher threw, but knows his team needs to put up more hits than two to win a ball game, especially against the top team in the section.
“They are a good ball club, well coached and they have some talent,” Musko said. “We decided to go aggressive at them because I thought we were a little timid in our last game, but they hit the ball pretty well and we also booted some plays, which you can’t have.
“But you can’t have one guy win a game for you. Colby Simmons is doing a great job for us and he had the two doubles but you need other guys to contribute offensively.”
The Mustangs put the game away in the fifth with six runs on four hits. Kifer led off with a single and moved to second on a perfectly placed bunt by Novak.
Dom Peroni walked and Rich Pish hit a ball that was misplayed in the outfield to score Kifer for a 4-0 LH lead. After a flyout, Garrett Kopich walked with the bases loaded to pick up the RBI and score Novak for a 5-0 lead.
Chad Pillar walked to score Peroni and the Mustangs had a 6-0 lead.
Musko came in and replaced Fike with Alan Vansickle but the Mustangs still had the bases loaded with one out.
Fike allowed nine runs on seven hits in 4 1/3 innings. He had three strikeouts and walked six.
“I really thought he pitched well after that first inning and I wasn’t too worried because he was throwing strikes,” Musko said. “He got a little tired but he has been playing well for us thing entire year.”
Vansickle was able to strike out the next batter but Boyle’s RBI single plated Pish. Kifer’s two-run single scored Kopich and Pillar for a 9-0 lead.
“I think the last time I had 5 hits in a game was when I was 12-years-old,” Kifer said. “The main thing is that we won the game. We have played together for a lot of years and we have a goal to first win the section title. That is the first step but the ultimate goal is to win a state title.”
The Mustangs added two runs in the seventh when Boyle singled and scored on Kifer’s double, and Kifer raced home on Novak’s RBI single for an 11-0 lead.
Uniontown’s Christian Forsythe walked to lead off the seventh but after a strikeout by Dorogi and a great play by Peroni at third on a bunt attempt by Carter Waligura, Dorogi was able to fan the next batter to close out the game.
Laurel Highlands looks to open up the second half of the season on a positive note on Wednesday when it travels to Thomas Jefferson (3-4, 5-8). The game is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. The Mustangs defeated the Jaguars, 5-2, on Apr. 5.
“I always tell the kids about playing as the away team, if you can put three or four runs on the board right off the bat, you put the opponent in a tough position,” DeBerry said. “We know that there are going to be games that we don’t hit the cover off the ball, but we have to focus on pitching well and playing good defense.”
The Red Raiders hope to rebound against Belle Vernon (4-2, 8-2) on Wednesday when it travels to the DiVirgilio Sports Complex. The first pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m.
“It is a game that we can win,” Musko said. “Everybody is beatable in this section but we have to be ready to go. It is going to be a scrap but we just need to go out and have fun. I think the guys get tense and nervous heading into these games.
“They just need to go back out and play baseball. I really think it comes down to a maturity issue. We do have five seniors, but past those seniors, we have a lot of underclassmen.”