Uniontown Legion too much for Carmichaels
Jonathan Guth | Herald-Standard
Uniontown starting and winning pitcher Bernie Yocabet throws during Sunday’s Fayette County American Legion playoff game against Carmichaels at Hutchinson Field.
Jonathan Guth | Herald-Standard
Uniontown’s Tanny Erminio beats the tag of Carmichaels’ Noah Streit to reach first base as Uniontown first base coach Max Beatty looks on during Sunday’s Fayette County American Legion baseball playoff game at Hutchinson Field.
Carmichaels starting pitcher Logan Mayhle throws during Sunday's game against Uniontown in the Fayette County American Legion baseball playoffs at Hutchinson Field.
Uniontown's Mike Brestensky takes a lead off second base during Sunday's Fayette County American Legion baseball playoff game against Carmichaels at Hutchinson Field.
Carmichaels relief pitcher Steve Spehar throws during Sunday's game against Uniontown at Hutchinson Field.
Uniontown's Nate Zimcosky leads off first base during Sunday's Fayette County American Legion playoff game against Carmichaels at Hutchinson Field.
Uniontown Legion showed why its the No. 1 seed in the Fayette County American Legion playoffs with a 17-1 victory over Carmichaels in five innings on Sunday evening at Hutchinson Field.
Carmichaels (2-14) opened the scoring with a run in the top of the first inning when Jacob Hair and Jordan Rivera drew back-to-back walks, starting pitcher Logan Mayhle moved them up with a sacrifice bunt and Hair scored on Collin Reynolds’ sacrifice fly.
Uniontown (16-1) responded in a big way with five runs on three hits in the bottom of the first.
“If you hit the ball hard, which we did, good things tend to happen,” Uniontown coach Brad Yohman said. “We will take it. I thought we did a nice job offensively today. It was also nice to get everybody in the game.”
Uniontown extended its lead to 8-1 in the second with three runs on two hits.
Alex Gesk pushed the home team’s advantage to 6-1 when he reached on a fielder’s choice, stole second and scored when a ball hit by Tanny Erminio was misplayed.
Josh Burns reached on a fielder’s choice, Travis Sankovich had an infield single and both scored on Ian Edenfield’s double.
Uniontown took a 9-1 lead in the third when Chad Petrush walked and courtesy runner Nick Kumor scored on Mike Brestensky’s double.
Uniontown put itself in position to end the game early when its scored eight runs on five hits, and took advantage of four errors by Carmichaels in the fourth.
“You can’t give any team outs,” Carmichaels coach Andy Barrish said. “You have to make routine plays, throw strikes and you have to hit the ball. We have a bunch of kids that gained a bunch of experience this year, and our goal was to get these kids playing time against quality teams to get ready for next year in the spring.
“We played a team that is a 5-A school, and a very good team. If we would make the state tournament in 2-A, we would not play a team as good as this one.”
Edenfield had an RBI single, his third hit, and scored, Sankovich tripled and scored, Richie Mehall had an RBI double and Brestensky knocked in two runs with his second double.
Bernie Yocabet earned the win after yielding one earned run on one hit in four innings. He had seven strikeouts and walked two.
“Bernie (Yocabet) has pitched primarily in relief, and we told he a couple of days ago it was probably going to line up where he would have to start for us, and he did his job,” Yohman said. “He was probably a little nervous at first, but once he settled in, he pitched nicely for us. He was pounding the strike zone and got us a win.”
Matt Santilli pitched a scoreless fifth to close out the game. He allowed one hit with two strikeouts and one walk.
Logan Mayhle surrendered nine runs (eight earned) on five hits in two innings to take the loss. He didn’t have a strikeout and walked three.
Steve Spehar and Stush Ferek also pitched for Carmichaels.
Spehar had a single in the second. Rivera added a base hit in the seventh.
“We have a lot of young guys that didn’t get much playing time in high school, so it has been nice to get them in games,” Barrish said.
Uniontown plays the winner of Smithfield-Fairchance and Colonial 3 on Tuesday at Hutchinson Field. The first pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.
“We are just taking it game by game,” Yohman said. “We will be off tomorrow, but we will come back ready to go Tuesday.”
Carmichaels plays the loser of Smithfield-Fairchance and Colonial 3 on Tuesday at 6 p.m. The game will be at Smithfield Ball Field or Rowes Run Field.
“We can’t make the mistakes we did today, and boot the ball around if we expect to win,” Barrish said. “If we play our game, we should be fine. We just have to forget about this one and move on.”