Colonial 3, Connellsville, Uniontown headed to Region 6 Legion Tournament
Colonial 3 did it the hard way.
Manager Don Bell’s team lost, 15-0, to Uniontown on Sunday, but rebounded to defeat Smithfield-Fairchance, 8-3, before downing Connellsville, 7-4, on Wednesday night at Hutchinson Field to advance to the Region 6 Tournament that begins Saturday.
Colonial 3 (11-8) enters the region tournament as the Fayette No. 1 and will meet the second-place team from Allegheny County at 9:30 a.m.
Connellsville (12-7) will represent the Fayette American League as the No. 2 seed in the regional, and will play the No. 1 seed from Beaver County at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday. The tournament is hosted by Uniontown and all games will be played at Hutchinson Field.
Uniontown plays its first game in the regional on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. against the third-place team from Allegheny County.
In the first game on Wednesday, Uniontown (27-3) used a four-run third inning, and got strong pitching from Zach Uhazie (4ip-2er-2r-4h-2so-1bb), Hudson Novak (2ip-0er-0r-2so-1bb) and Luke Paull (1ip-0er-0r-0h-0so-1bb) to down Connellsville, 8-2.
Novak also hit a two-run home run in the sixth inning to give Uniontown an 8-2 advantage. Greg Lancaster, who reached on a bunt single, also scored. Novak also doubled and scored two runs.
“Hudson (Novak) really had a big day,” Uniontown manager and Fayette American League Legion President Brad Yohman said. “We also had a strong day on the mound from all three of our pitchers. We haven’t gotten to use Hudson (Novak) and Luke (Paull) on the mound too much lately, so it was nice to get them some work.”
Uniontown took a 2-0 lead after the first inning but Connellsville tied the game at 2-2 in the top of the second before Uniontown’s four-run third.
“We had a guy pitching in Marc Prinkey that hadn’t thrown in a while and Cole Shearer came in for us, and he was just a freshman in high school, so our guys did all right,” Connellsville manager Joe Bonadio said. “Uniontown is a really good team but I think we will be OK in the regional after we get some rest.”
Uniontown and Colonial 3 will finish the Fayette American Legion tournament after the region and state tournaments have been completed.
Colonial 3’s Nik Gibson pitched strong in its win over Smithfield-Fairchance, and teammate Jordan Eicher followed that up in the nightcap against Connellsville.
Eicher allowed four runs on six hits in seven innings. He had three strikeouts and walked five in throwing 113 pitches.
“Our guys were hungry today,” Bell said. “I am real proud of the guys. Jordan (Eicher) was battling in the seventh, and it was a real gutty performance. He is just a year and a half back from a shoulder injury. I was going to take him out in the seventh, but he said, ‘give me one more hitter.’
“It has been awhile since we made the region tournament and couldn’t be more proud of these guys. They stuck together all year and battled.”
Colonial 3 scored three runs in back-to-back innings to take a 6-0 lead. It scored three in the third on no hits, but drew three walks and benefited from a Connellsville fielding error.
Connellsville made three fielding errors in the third that contributed to three runs in the fourth for Colonial 3.
“We just had too many walks and errors,” Bonadio said. “I take my hat off to Colonial. They really wanted this game.”
Connellsville got a run back in the fifth when Corey Fogle walked with the bases loaded to score Jake Frick for a 6-1 Colonial 3 lead.
Colonial 3 got the run back in the top of the seventh when Gibson doubled, moved to third on a wild pitch, and scored on DJ Zimcosky’s RBI single to right field.
Connellsville made things interesting in the seventh when Shearer’s three-run double plated Brody Bonadio, Jake Ansell and Fogle for a 7-3 lead for Colonial 3, but Eicher was able to buckle down and record a strikeout to end the game.