Uniontown almost perfect in opening win over Ambridge-Baden
Rob Burchianti | Herald-Standard
Uniontown’s Nick Kumor signals for teammate Josh Burns (4) to come in standing as Tanny Erminio claps in the third inning against Ambridge-Baden during Friday night’s Pennsylvania American Legion Region 6 Championship Tournament at Hutchinson Field. All three runners scored on Travis Sankovich’s double. Umpire Toby McKnight makes sure Burns touches the plate.
Uniontown's Travis Sankovich follows through on his three-run double in the third inning against Ambridge-Baden during Friday night's Pennsylvania American Legion Region 6 Championship Tournament at Hutchinson Field. Uniontown sent 11 men to the plate and scored seven runs in the inning to propel it to an 11-0, five-inning victory.
The scoreboard tells the story as Uninotown's Andino Vecchiolla goes into his windup against Ambridge-Baden during Friday night's Pennsylvania American Legion Region 6 Championship Tournament at Hutcinson Field. Vecchiolla and Greg Lancaster combined on a five-inning, one-hit shutout in Uniontown's 11-0 victory. Uniontown shortstop Travis Sankovich looks on in the background.
Uniontown's Ian Edenfield bats against Ambridge-Baden during Friday night's Pennsylvania American Legion Region 6 Championship Tournament at Hutchinson Field. Edenfield had two hits and two RBIs in Uniontown's 11-0 victory. Behind the plate are A-B catcher Vinnie Morelli and home plate umpire Toby McKnight.
Uniontown's Tanny Erminio dives safely back into first base under the tag attempt by Ambridge-Baden's John Jones on a first-inning pick-off throw during Friday night's Pennsylvania American Legion Region 6 Championship Tournament at Hutchinson Field.
Richie Mehall touches home plate to score Uniontown's seventh run against Ambridge-Baden during Friday night's Pennsylvania American Legion Region 6 Championship Tournament at Hutcinson Field. Mehall came home on Josh Burns' bases-loaded walk.
HOPWOOD — Brad Yohman couldn’t have drawn it up any better.
The Uniontown manager watched his team turn in an almost flawless performance while putting minimal stress on his pitching staff in an 11-0, five-inning victory over Ambridge-Baden during Friday night’s Pennsylvania American Legion Region 6 baseball playoff game at Hutcinson Field.
Andino Vecchiolla and Greg Lancaster combined on a one-hitter, Ian Edenfield had two hits and two RBIs and Travis Sankovich hit a three-run double as Uniontown cruised into a Saturday night match-up in the winners’ bracket against league rival Connellsville.
“We had efficient pitching, good defense behind them, and the offense showed up, too,” Yohman said.
“The biggest thing was error-free baseball and the pitching. Vecchiolla was at 45 (pitches thrown) and I think Greg was around 28. You couldn’t ask for anything better. We have options galore now.”
Due to their low pitch counts, Vecchiolla will be available to pitch again on Sunday and Lancaster was still eligible to throw on Saturday.
Vecchiolla allowed only a first-inning single to Mike Mellor and two walks with four strikeouts in 3 1/3 innings. At that point Yohman strategically took his ace left-hander out of what had become a lopsided game.
Lancaster relieved and finished up in dominating fashion. The right-hander retired all five batters he faced, including four on strikeouts.
The only blemish on Uniontown’s opening-game report card came in the first inning when it blew a golden opportunity to score.
Playing as the away team due to the coin flip, Tanny Erminio was hit by a pitch and Josh Burns sacrificed him to second. Nick Campalong pitched around Sankovich, putting runners on first and second with one out, but then struck out Edenfield and Nate Zimcosky to end the threat.
Both Edenfield and Zimcosky would soon make up for their first-inning failings.
Uniontown struck for four runs in the second.
Chad Petrush drew a lead-off walk, took second on a pass ball and went to third on a wild pitch while Richie Mehall drew a one-out walk. Petrush scored when Kumor hit into a force out and beat the relay throw to first to prevent an inning-ending double play.
Erminio followed with an RBI double to left to make it 2-0. After Burns and Sankovich both drew walks, Edenfield laced a two-run single to right to put Uniontown up 4-0.
“We talked to him after his first at bat,” Yohman said in recalling Edenfield’s key hit. “I told him clear it, lock up and just see what you can do to try to square up the next at bat.”
“The first time he threw a lot of off-speed stuff, a lot off the plate,” Edenfield said. “So my second at bat I kind of took the pitch that way. It was an outside pitch and I took it to right field.
“That was a big momentum push for us.”
Uniontown exploded for seven runs in the third to all but put the game away.
Campalong’s defense let him down and helped set up Uniontown’s rally when Petrush and Dylan Bohna both reached on one-out errors. Mehall and Kumor followed with back-to-back RBI singles, and Erminio and Burns drew consecutive walks to force in another run and bring Sankovich to the plate.
With Campalong forced to finally pitch to him, the left-handed hitting slugger drilled a three-run double to deep center to blow the game wide open.
“I was just sitting on fastball,” Sankovich said. “Once I got my strike, I made sure I didn’t miss it. It was a 1-0 pitch. It felt good to help the team out.”
“That’s a lethal spot,” Yohman said. “We all know that Travis is an unbelievable hitter. He’s been a great ballplayer for us for four years. I like my odds when Travis is in that situation.”
Zimcosky capped the rally one out later when he also blasted a double to center to bring in Sankovich and make it 11-0.
Campalong was charged with only four earned runs in three innings of work, but half of the six hits he allowed went for extra-bases and he walked seven and hit one batter while striking out four.
The one bright spot for A-B was Luke Holman, who pitched two scoreless innings in relief of Campalong.
There were plenty of hitting heroes for Uniontown in addition to Edenfield and Sankovich.
Kumor totaled two runs, two RBIs, one hit and a stolen base. Erminio reached base three times, scored twice and had one hit and one RBI. Burns had a sacrifice bunt, two runs and an RBI. Petrush also scored twice. Mehall reached base twice and had one hit, one run and one RBI. Zimcosky had a double and an RBI, and Bohna scored one run.
The start of the game was delayed one hour and 40 minutes by rain, and Yohman commended all those who worked to get the field in playing shape.
“When you’re running a tournament of this caliber and you’re trying to get a bunch of games in, weather like that certainly creates a lot of stress because the guys aren’t sure when we’re playing and when we’ve got to get ready,” Yohman said. “To the credit of the grounds crew and all my people with our team, they got the field ready to work and we got these games in today when it wasn’t looking good.”