Ambridge-Baden edges Connellsville, 3-0
John F. Brothers | Herald-Standard
Ambridge-Baden shortstop Mike Mellor (5) applies the tag on Connellsville’s Jake Frick (21) when Frick attempted to steal second base in the first inning of Saturday’s opening game in the Pennsylvania American Legion Baseball Region 6 championship tournament Saturday at Hutchinson Park in Hopwood.
John F. Brothers | Herald-Standard
Ambridge-Baden’s Mike Mellor (5) steals second ahead of the throw to Connellsville second baseman Cole Shearer (12) in the opening round of the Pennsylvania American Legion Baseball Region 6 championship tournament Saturday at Hutchinson Park in Hopwood.
Pitcher Elija Small (7) works the mound for Connellsville against Ambridge-Baden in the first round of the Pennsylvania American Legion Baseball Region 6 championship tournament Saturday at Hutchinson Park in Hopwood.
Both Elija Small and Tre Thomas were stingy Saturday afternoon, but Thomas’ Ambridge-Baden teammates eked out three runs Saturday afternoon for a 3-0 victory in the first round of the Pennsylvania American Legion Baseball Region 6 championship tournament at Hutchinson Field.
Ambridge-Baden plays Colonial 3, an 11-5 winner over Bethel Park, today at 4:30 p.m.
Thomas retired the side in the second, third, fourth, sixth, eighth and ninth innings, striking out 12 and walking just one.
Connellsville’s Jake Frick led off the game with a single, but was thrown out attempting to steal. Thomas then struck out the next two batters.
“Tre pitched an outstanding game,” Ambridge-Baden coach Shawn Holman said of the La Roche College pitcher. “He’s been consistent this season.”
“Give their pitcher credit. He pitched a great game,” praised Connellsville manager Joe Bonadio.
Small retired the side in order in the bottom of the first and stranded a runner on second in the bottom of the second.
Ambridge-Baden (17-3) finally broke through in the bottom of the third.
Jarret Cunnard walked to start the inning and stole second. He moved to third on Alex Fetkovich’s single and scored on Noah Krokonko’s sacrifice fly to center field.
Small then stranded Fetkovich at second with a strikeout and an infield ground out.
Small settled down after allowing the run, retiring nine of the next 10 batters. He struck out five, walked three and hit one batter.
“Elija did a great job. He went the whole way. He pitched an efficient game,” said Bonadio.
“I was disappointed in our hitting, but their pitcher kept us off balance. He moved the ball in and out,” said Holman.
Connellsville (12-8) made some noise in the top of the fifth inning.
Cade Warrick opened the inning with a walk. He remained at first on Nolan Porterfield’s fly out to left field, but hustled to third on Austin Petraglia’s double that bounced off the left-center field wall.
But, Thomas bore down and struck out Marc Prinkey and Tanner Orndorff swinging to end the threat.
The game remained 1-0 until Connellsville had a couple defensive miscues in the bottom of the eighth.
Fetkovich walked to open the inning and broke on a 1-1 pitch to Krokonko. Krokonko laced a slicing line drive to center field, which was misplayed into a run-scoring, two-base error.
Krokonko advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored when, with the infield pulled in, Travis Holman’s ground ball was mishandled.
Small mitigated the damage when he struck out Thomas, picked off Holman and got Mike Mellor to ground out.
Connellsville was playing short-handed with five players absent. All 10 players present were in the lineup with Aaron Nickelson the designated hitter.
“I’ll take the effort the kids gave. I can’t complain about the effort the kids gave,” said Bonadio. “We had a lot of kids out of position and they did a great job.”
Bonadio will wait to see who’s available for today’s game against Bethel Park at 9:30 a.m.
“We’ll have to see. We’re playing one game at a time,” added Bonadio.
The challenge for all coaching staffs in the tournament is pitching, pitch count and pitching depth.
“We wanted to take Tre out at 74 pitches, but it was a 1-0 game. He reached the point of no return, so we left him in,” said Holman. “The challenge is pitching depth. We have some of it with five solid starting pitchers that give us a chance.”