Belle Vernon edges Baden to advance to semis
BEAVER FALLS — Belle Vernon had 16 hits and scored plenty of runs, but Baden kept coming and rallied to tie Saturday’s game twice before BV pulled out an 8-7 victory in the opening round of the Region 6 American Legion Baseball Tournament at Chippewa Park.
Jack Crovak led Belle Vernon’s offensive output, as he was 4 for 5 with two doubles, a run scored and an RBI.
Although he didn’t receive credit for a run batted in, Crovak’s double to left field in the top of the seventh inning scored Dom Pireaux from first base as the result of an error. Crovak had a run-scoring double to left field in the sixth inning.
Despite Crovak’s hot bat and a quality start from Ian Porter, Belle Vernon couldn’t pull away from Baden, who rallied from a 5-1 deficit in the fifth to tie the game at 5-5, and pulled even again in the bottom of the sixth inning at 7-7.
Porter allowed five runs, but only two were earned over five innings. He had two strikeouts and walked one. Aiden Shaffer pitched ⅔ of an inning before JB Crovak earned the win after throwing 1 ⅓ scoreless innings. Crovak didn’t allow a hit with three strikeouts and one walk.
“Ian came in and threw a helluva game and Shaffer came in and did his job,” Belle Vernon coach Tom Jackson said. “JB does JB things. He will be my starter tomorrow. We were glad to get JB under the pitch-count for the next game, but even if I would have burned him, I have enough arms, and I am confident in every pitcher on my staff.”
Baden’s lone lead came in the bottom of the first inning on Connor Iorfido’s home run to left field with two outs. Belle Vernon had turned a double play, but Iorfido took the first pitch he saw deep. Iorfido was 3 for 4 with three RBIs and two runs scored.
Belle Vernon (18-2-1) tied the game in the top of the third inning when Chase Petrosky scored on JB Crovak’s groundout to shortstop.
Aiden Grimes put Belle Vernon ahead in the fourth when he sprinted home on Nate Grimm’s sacrifice flyout to left field for a 2-1 lead.
Belle Vernon extended its advantage to 5-1 in the fifth on run-scoring singles from Vito and Vincenzo Francia, and a RBI single from Jesse Sobczak that plated JB Crovak, Jacob Peterson and Grimes.
Baden (7-5-1) tied the game at 5-5 in the bottom of the fifth frame when Chance Parish and Matthias Davis scored on errors, as Irofido was safe at first base on a fielder’s choice to third base. Iorfido scored on Cody Hetrick’s double to left field and courtesy runner Reed Leseiko crossed home plate for the tying run when Benny Vukovcan reached first base safely on an error.
Crovak’s RBI double scored Petrosky in the sixth, and Crovak came home on Peterson’s double to left field for a 7-5 lead.
Davis crossed home plate on Iorfido’s line drive in the bottom of the sixth prior to Parish scoring on an error for a tie game.
“Just sloppy baseball,” Jackson said. “Our main goal is to get to states, so hopefully we have two more games to go, but we need to get that sloppy play out of our system.”
Belle Vernon played Blackhawk (10-3) on Sunday in the semifinals, while Baden completed its elimination game against Smithfield-Fairchance (12-9) that began Saturday. Smithfield-Fairchance had a 2-1 lead with two outs in the top of the second inning when the contest was suspended due to inclement weather.
The winner of Baden-Smithfield-Fairchance tilt met whomever lost the Belle Vernon-Blackhawk game Sunday evening to determine the final two teams in the double-elimination tournament.
The winner of the Belle Vernon and Blackhawk game was in the driver’s seat to win the Region 6 title, as the team from the elimination bracket would have to win twice.
The Region 6 champion will advance to the state tournament that will be contested July 25-29. The championship will be hosted by Williamsport Post 1.