Glasser drives in winning run in 4-3 win over Beaver
Lorenzo Glasser singled in the winning run with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning Saturday afternoon to lift Charleroi to a 4-3 victory over Beaver in the Region 6 American Legion Baseball Tournament.
Charleroi (11-6) completes pool play Sunday against Blackhawk. Charleroi would advance to the semifinals if Beaver lost to Blackhawk (result was not available) regardless of the outcome in the Blackhawk game. Should Beaver and Charleroi lose to Blackhawk, then Charleroi plays Uniontown in the semifinals.
A Charleroi victory over Blackhawk would give the local team the top seed out of pool play and it would play either North Allegheny or Hopewell.
“If Beaver loses to Blackhawk, we’re in. If not (and teams are tied), it comes down to run differential,” explained Charleroi manager Luke Mollis. “We might have to win (Sunday). Then, we’ll change our attitude.
“We wanted to save (Noah) Martin and (Remington) Lessman to come in relief in one of the other games.”
Charleroi did so with a real slim roster of players.
“We only had nine players. They had a chip on their shoulders. We might be able to sneak in another guy (on the roster),” said Mollis, adding, “We’re like the Beverly Hillbillies.”
Beaver jumped out to an early lead with a run in the top of the second.
Charleroi pulled into the lead with two runs in the bottom of the fourth and another run in the fifth.
Beaver tied the game in the top of the sixth inning with both runs tagged to starting pitcher Ashton Ray.
Ray reached his 105-pitch limit with one out in the top of the sixth inning. He allowed three runs (one earned) on two hits with six walks and five strikeouts.
“That wasn’t the plan. We wanted Ashton to pitch (the entire game), but had to pull him out with the pitch count,” said Mollis.
Glasser replaced Ray and allowed two inherited runners to score, but picked up the final two outs in the inning to keep the score tied at 3-3.
Glasser pitched a scoreless seventh inning to set up his game-winning hit. He allowed one hit and one strikeout. Most importantly, Glasser did so with under 30 pitches.
“Lorenzo can pitch (Sunday). He can go throw 105 pitches,” said Mollis.
Mollis feels his squad is set up for close games like the win over Beaver.
“Those are the kind of games we try to play. We rely on small ball and our speed,” said Mollis.
Glasser finished with two hits and drove in two runs. Colton Brightwell and Hunter Mamie had one RBI each. Chad Behrendt, Glasser, Brightwell and Dan Verscharen scored one run apiece.