Uniontown Legion wins second Region 6 Championship in four years
Jim Downey | Herald-Standard
Uniontown’s Andino Vecchiolla releases the ball to a Smithfield-Fairchance batter in the top of the first inning of Tuesday’s Region 6 American Legion Baseball final at Hutchinson Field.
Jim Downey | Herald-Standard
Uniontown players surround Ian Edenfield as he touches home plate after hitting a three-run home run in the top of the first inning against Smithfield-Fairchance in Tuesday’s Region 6 American Legion Baseball final.
Smithfield-Fairchance's Dylan Rush hustles down the line to beat the throw from Uniontown second baseman Josh Burns for an infield single to lead off the game Tuesday in the Region 6 American Legion Baseball final at Hutchinson Field.
Uniontown's Tanny Erminio is hit on the shoulder in the top of the second inning of Tuesday's Region 6 American Legion Baseball final against Smithfield-Fairchance at Hutchinson Field.
Uniontown's Travis Sankovich beats the throw from Smithfield-Fairchance second baseman in the bottom of the first inning of Tuesday's Region 6 American Legion Baseball final at Hutchinson Field.
HOPWOOD — Uniontown Legion jumped out to an early lead in the first inning and didn’t look back in an 11-0 victory over Smithfield-Fairchance to win its second Pennsylvania American Legion Baseball Region 6 Championship in four years on Tuesday at Hutchinson Field.
Uniontown (27-4) begins play in the Pennsylvania American Legion Baseball State Championship Tournament on Saturday in Boyertown. It plays the Region 2 Champion at 4 p.m. in the double-elimination tournament. The champion and runner-up advance to the Mid-Atlantic Regional Tournament in Purcellville, Virginia at Fireman’s Field
“First of all, I’m really proud of the entire team,” Uniontown manager Brad Yohman said. “I am really proud of my coaching staff, Tommy Sankovich, Luke Wallace, Max Beatty and Mike Patricelli. We try to set a culture that breeds working hard and being a good baseball program and being together as teammates and being a brotherhood, and this is the expectation that you set. It is days like today that validate why you do what you do when you are able to get some hardware.
“We are going to do the best we can to find out some information about our opponent. We are not sure who it is yet, but we know that Region 2 has solid baseball teams that have won state championships, and the teams out east are more oriented to Legion baseball than the travel-ball presence that hurts the western part of the state in the summer.
“Luke Wallace played in the tournament in 2015, and Max Beatty coached in that tournament, so we have some guys that have experience from the last time we went. Ian Edenfield and Travis Sankovich are two of our current players that played in 2015.”
Yohman guided Uniontown to the state tournament in 2015, and is the only manager in the area to lead a team to two regional titles. Uniontown went 1-2 at states in ’15.
Edenfield hit a three-run home run in the first and Chad Petrush added a three-run shot to centerfield in the fourth to give Andino Vecchiolla all the offense he would need.
“Andino (Vecchiolla) has beaten us five times in the Legion season and he beat us in high school,” Smithfield-Fairchance manager Mike Simon said. “He is a heck of a pitcher, and I hope he can carry it over into the state tournament this weekend. Our only disappointment today is that the game got away from us, and we wanted to give them a battle.”
The lefty didn’t allow a run on four hits (all singles) in five innings. He had one strikeout and one walk in throwing 45 pitches.
“It is amazing what Andino (Vecchiolla) has done,” Yohman said. “He is entering his junior year of high school, and the success that he is already having is fantastic to see. There is nothing cheap about it.
“The kid is a hard worker and has such great feel for pitching at his age and it is amazing to watch. It is hard to find a kid at that age to have such a feel for pitching. He has been phenomenal the whole season and it is really good to have a lefty ace like him.”
Vecchiolla also benefited from two double plays turned by Uniontown’s infield to end scoring threats by Smithfield-Fairchance.
“I really trust my defense behind me and I know they will make the plays,” Vecchiolla said. “I also think that my experiences in the high school playoffs have helped prepare me for these games. My two-seam fastball and curveball were working good, and of course, it is always nice to have a big lead to work with.”
The first double play came in the first when Dylan Rush led off with an infield single and moved to second on Nate Bricker’s bunt single before a pop-up to Edenfield at first base and the combination of Sankovich, Josh Burns and Edenfield turned a 6-4-3 double play.
“We let the first two guys get on after we had a breakdown in communication the first two batters of the game, and I just walked out just to kind of level set the guys,” Yohman said. “I just asked them if we got that out of our system, and we did and got a double play to end the inning.”
“We made a big mistake in the first inning when we tried to stick to our gameplan and bunt with runners on first and second with nobody out,” Simon said. “We took the bat out of Adam’s (Simon) hand, and he is our No. 3 batter.”
Uniontown didn’t take too long to crack the scoreboard in the first when Burns singled to right field with one out, Sankovich reached on an error and Edenfield hit his three-run blast to left centerfield. The tournament doesn’t have an Outstanding Player Award, but if it did, Edenfield would be one of the favorites.
“I think Ian (Edenfield) was hitting .540 in the regional tournament coming into today,” Yohman said. “We have been patiently waiting to see Ian really elevate something. The home run was really the statement of the game, and that pretty much set the tone for what the game was going to be, and then Chad (Petrush) comes back and hits another three-run home run later in the game to pretty much cap it. We have driven a couple of balls deep early in the tournament.”
Edenfield, who has been to the state wrestling championships the last two years, has a knack for performing well in pressure situations. Edenfield and Sankovich are the two remaining players from the ’15 team.
“I am never nervous,” Edenfield said. “It all started from my junior year wrestling at states, and those experiences really help me to be calm in pressure situations. It is a very exciting moment to get back to states after going in 2015.”
Uniontown turned its second double play when Angelo Doyle singled up the middle and Rush walked before Burns, Sankovich and Edenfield turned the trick, 4-6-3, to end the third.
Sankovich is looking forward to getting back to the state tournament as one of the leaders on the team instead of one of the younger guys. He also credits his time playing with Burns and Edenfield in helping them turn double plays.
“Brad (Yohman) made myself and Ian (Edenfield) the captains, and we have just been telling the other guys about what a great experience it was at states and how fun it was out there,” Sankovich said. “I just try and lead by example. I have been playing a long time with Josh (Burns) and Ian (Edenfield) so we really have a feel for turning double plays. Getting double plays are big momentum swings that we hope to turn over when we get to bat.”
The home team pushed its lead to 6-0 in the bottom of the inning when Edenfield walked, Nate Zimcosky reached on an error when the ball reached the fence on the first-base line that moved him and Edenfield to second and third, and both scored on Petrush’s double to left field. Petrush scored on Dylan Bohna’s single to right field for a six-run advantage.
Uniontown scored five runs in the fourth to put itself in position to end the game in the fifth due to the 10-run mercy rule.
Sankovich and Edenfield reached on back-to-back errors with Sankovich coming around to score for a 7-0 lead before Zimcosky singled to left and Petrush smashed his home run to centerfield for a 10-0 lead.
Petrush had five RBIs and scored two runs.
“I want to thank one of our coaches, Mike Patricelli, for getting in my head, telling me to stay through the ball and drive it,” Petrush said. “On the home run, I came up to bat and Brad (Yohman) told me to keep my front-side in, and I was really concentrating on keeping my front-side in. He threw me a fastball a little bit out on the plate, belt high, and it felt real good off the bat.
“I just loved being in the moment to come up and be a hero. It feels great to go to states, and we want to show them out there what Uniontown is all about.”
Bohna got to first when a ball was misplayed, stole second and scored on Kumor’s base hit to left. Kumor also doubled in the second.
Michael Coll started for Smithfield-Fairchance and took the loss. Coll is normally S-F’s catcher, but due to the lack of pitchers available, he had to throw.
“I was pleased with what Mike (Coll) gave us,” Simon said. “He made one mistake, and it changed the ball game.”
Smithfield-Fairchance (12-11) wasn’t originally a part of the Region 6 Tournament, but due to Allegheny County only being able to send one team, S-F gladly accepted the invitation and took advantage of its second chance.
“We are so proud of these guys,” Simon said. “Steve Strange, John Palmer and Jeff Rush put together great gameplans for our tournament. They did a great job of mapping it out and I’m just overseeing things.
“We are losing some guys in Adam (Simon), who is going to Thiel College and will play baseball, Mike Coll is going to play at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus, Austin Bergman is undecided on college, but he has Clarion looking at him, Dylan Rush is going to try and walk-on for the baseball team at California University of Pennsylvania, and Nate Bricker is not going to continue his athletic career in college, but he has a full ROTC scholarship at WVU.”