Jul 5, 2026 By Rob Burchianti 4 min read

Smithfield-Fairchance picked the perfect time to get hot.

S-F went on the road and upended first-place Belle Vernon, 7-3, on Friday to close the Fayette American Legion baseball regular season with a three-game winning streak.

With the victory, Smithfield-Fairchance (10-5) moved ahead of Uniontown and locked up the second seed behind Belle Vernon (15-2-1) and a first-round bye in the league tournament, which begins Monday.

Matchups for the best-of-three, first-round series are No. 5 Brownsville vs. No. 4 Charleroi and No. 6 Carmichaels vs. No. 3 Uniontown. Charleroi (6 p.m.) and Uniontown (7 p.m.) both host game one Monday.

“We were able to secure four big wins down the stretch this week,” S-F manager Tony Watson said. “Anytime you can beat the top team, it really helps build confidence, especially with the young team that we have.”

Smithfield-Fairchance earned a split with Thomas Jefferson last Monday, taking a 10-inning, walk-off win in the completion of a suspended game, then defeated Uniontown on Tuesday and Charleroi on Wednesday before its triumph over BV.

Nico Edwards pitched six strong innings in relief of starter Mason Usher to earn the win in Friday’s game for S-F, which got two RBIs apiece from Kayden Perez, Billy Craig and Kaiden Brady.

Smithfield-Fairchance jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning.

Evan Weakland drew a lead-off walk and one-out later stole second and went to third when Matt Malinsky reached on a dropped third strike. Malinsky alertly moved up to second and both runners scored on a single by Perez, who took second on the throw. Craig then singled in Perez with two outs.

Belle Vernon answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning.

Chase Petrosky began the rally with a single, went to third on Jack Crovak’s double and scored on a wild pitch as JB Crovak walked. Cole Matusik’s RBI ground out made it 3-2.

Usher walked the first two batters in the bottom of the second inning, prompting Watson to call on Edwards in relief.

“Usher exited the game early with some forearm tightness,” Watson explained. “Edwards came in during the second inning and was lights out the rest of the game. He was able to keep his pitch count down and pitch to contact. Our defense was really strong behind him.”

Edwards went the rest of the way on the mound, allowing just one run on three hits with three walks and two strikeouts.

Smithfield-Fairchance made it 4-2 with a run in the third inning when Malinsky hit a one-out single, stole second, took third on a passed ball and came home on Craig’s single to left.

S-F extended its advantage to 7-1 with three more runs in the fifth.

Perez and Ben Lilley led off the inning with back-to-back walks and Clay Smith reached on an error one out later to load the bases. Perez scored when Jack Bellish hit into a force out and Brady followed with a two-out, two-run triple.

“Perez, Craig and Brady all stepped up with runners on today and were responsible for six RBIs,” Watson said. “They were able to work the counts and put pressure on their pitchers.”

Belle Vernon got its lone run off Edwards in the sixth inning when Jack Crovak singled, went to second on Vito Francia’s single and came around to score when Matusik hit into a force out.

Jack Crovak had two of BV’s five hits, Matusik contributed a pair of RBIs and Vincenzo Francia added a double.

Starting and losing pitcher Nate Grimm surrendered four runs (three earned) on four hits with two walks and four strikeouts in three innings. Aiden Shaffer pitched the final four frames for Belle Vernon and gave up three unearned runs on two hits with three walks and four strikeouts.

Watson was pleased to see his team earn the No. 2 seed.

“Securing the first-round bye will give us some time to rest arms for round two,” he said.

“Really happy these boys were able to reach the 10-win plateau.”

In games on Thursday, Charleroi defeated visiting Thomas Jefferson, 12-8, with a second game between the two suspended, and Belle Vernon blanked visiting Uniontown, 10-0 in five innings.

In Charleroi’s win, Anthony Koziel drove in three runs, Tristyn Woods had two hits and two RBIs, Lazer Glasser also knocked in two runs and Dylan Klinger added two hits and an RBI. Brock Henderson was the winning pitcher.

In Belle Vernon’s win, Jesse Sobczak was 3 for 3 with a double and three RBIs, Matusik and Vincenzo Francia each smacked a triple, Landon Jackson had two hits and Max Manley and Ian Porter both doubled. Winning pitcher JB Crovak tossed a three-hit shutout with one walk and 11 RBIs.

Shane Kelly was 2 for 2 with a stolen base for Uniontown.