Uniontown Legion explodes for 12 runs in sixth en route to 19-2 win over Connellsville
Uniontown Legion baseball pitcher Luke Paull delivers a pitch against a Connellsville batter Sunday evening June 25, 2017 at Connellsville High School's Thomas Sankovich Field.
Kenneth R Brooks
Uniontown Legion’s Luke Paull delivers a pitch against a Connellsville batter this season. Paull was one of the standout pitchers for the program the last three seasons.
Kenneth R Brooks
Connellsville Legion shortstop Brody Bonadio throws to first base after scooping up a ground ball against Uniontown Sunday evening at Connellsville High School’s Thomas E. Sankovich Field.
Kenneth R Brooks
Connellsville Legion’s Corey Fogle slides into second base after beating out a dropped fly ball while Uniontown shortstop Troy Kifer waits on the throw from the outfield Sunday evening at Connellsville High School’s Thomas E. Sankovich Field.
CONNELLSVILLE — Uniontown turned a close game into a rout with a 12-run sixth for a 19-2 victory over Connellsville on Sunday in Fayette American Legion Baseball action at Thomas E. Sankovich Field.
Uniontown (10-0, 18-2) held a 7-2 lead after five innings before putting up a dozen runs on eight hits to put the Mercy Rule into effect after Connellsville (7-2) batted in the bottom of the sixth. Coach Brad Yohman’s team is now in the driver’s seat to finish first in regular-season play against Fayette American Legion teams.
“We are glad to win this one but we have a doubleheader tomorrow, and we need to remain focused,” Yohman said. “We went to the state tournament two years ago, but lost to Colonial 3, and that is who we play tomorrow. We have a veteran group with kids that played a year of college ball, and you can see that they have matured, but we have to be ready for both games tomorrow and the rest of the regular season before playoffs start.”
Uniontown sent 12 batters to the plate in the sixth before Connellsville recorded an out. The visitors batted through their lineup twice.
Zach Uhazie and Hudson Novak led off the inning with back-to-back singles before Uhazie’s courtesy runner, Bernie Yocabet, and Novak scored on Derek Gaisbauer’s double for a 9-2 advantage.
Gaisbauer’s scored on Ian Edenfield’s double for a 10-2 lead before Tanny Erminio and Richie Mehall were walked to load the bases. Greg Lancaster’s two-run single plated Edenfield and Erminio, and he moved to second on the play for a 12-2 advantage.
Troy Kifer’s two-run double plated Mehall and Lancaster for a 14-2 lead before Travis Sankovich walked and Uhazie was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
Novak cleared the bases with a grand slam to left field that scored Kifer, Sankovich and Uhazie’s courtesy runner, Matt Santilli, and Uniontown extended its lead to 18-2.
Gaisbauer walked, Edenfield reached on a fielder’s choice with Gaisbauer being thrown out at second for the first out of the inning, and after Erminio walked, Edenfield scored on Mehall’s RBI single for the 19-2 advantage.
“It was good to have a big offensive day but we know Connellsville is way better than this score may indicate,” Yohman said. “They had some guys missing today and we have to be prepared for those guys the next time. They are going to come after us, and we have the utmost respect for those guys.”
Lancaster came in relief for winning pitcher, Luke Paull, and struck out the side to seal the win. Paull allowed two runs on five hits in five innings. He had seven strikeouts and walked five.
Uniontown opened the scoring in the second when Edenfield tripled and scored on Erminio’s groundout to third base.
Connellsville took out starting pitcher Austin Petraglia after two innings. Petraglia allowed one run on three hits with two strikeouts and one walk. He was relieved by Cole Shearer in the third.
“We had seven games in six games, and because of the pitch-count rule that we now have in Legion, we decided to take him out,” Connellsville coach Joe Bonadio said.
Uniontown pushed its lead to 3-0 in the third when Sankovich walked and scored on Uhazie’s double, his second of the game, for a 2-0. Yocabet scored when Erminio walked with the bases loaded.
The home team came back with two runs in the bottom of the inning when Shearer singled, moved to third on Cory Fogle’s double, his second of the game, and both scored when Paull walked Petraglia and Jake Frick with the bases loaded. Paull walked three batters in the third.
“Luke (Paull) battled through it but he had a little bit of an uncharacteristic game with the walks,” Yohman said. “We were thinking of taking him out when he gave up the two runs in the third for more of a precautionary reason than anything, but we talked between innings and he said he wanted to give it a go.
“We watched him in warmups and he had a pretty clean fourth so we left him in there, but his pitch count was getting up there and we were going to take him out after the fifth regardless of what happened. His arm felt good but his hamstring was giving him a little bit of trouble, but to his credit he battled through it.”
Uniontown added to its lead in the fifth with four runs on two hits and benefited from two Connellsville errors.
Edenfield reached base on an error and was sacrificed to second by Erminio. He scored when Mehall reached via error. Lancaster walked and Kifer hit a three-run homer to left field to plate score Mehall, Lancaster and himself for a 7-2 advantage.
“We were in the game but we had those two bad innings,” Bonadio said. “There is really nothing we can do but forget about this game and move on. We have a lot of baseball left to play. We had some guys out today but that is no excuse.”
Yohman frequently enters his team in tournaments when they are not playing league games and uses those games to prepare his team for the playoffs.
“We had a great weekend in Morgantown a few weeks ago, and we put it together and beat three really good teams,” Yohman said. “We were in Bridgeport last weekend and had kind of an up-and-down weekend. We played three pretty good games, but we struggled in two games. We used that as a learning experience, and we get in those tournaments to prepare us for the end of the season.”