Rockets fall to Union, 12-0, in third place consy
Holly Tonini
Holly Tonini Jefferson-Morgan蘑菇视频 Isaac Dean gets the out at home against Union蘑菇视频 Bryce Smith during the Class A third-place consolation game on Wednesday at Washington & Jefferson College.
Holly Tonini
Jefferson-Morgan蘑菇视频 Zack Gamble fields a grounder between first and second before making the throw to first base for the out on Wednesday during the Class A third-place consolation game at Washington & Jefferson College.
Jefferson-Morgan蘑菇视频 Brennan Kozich collides at home with Union蘑菇视频 Anthony Ryan, who makes the tag for the out during the Class A third-place consolation game on Wednesday at Washington & Jefferson College. (Photo by Holly Tonini)
WASHINGTON 鈥� Union tallied six runs in the third inning and took full advantage of all of Jefferson-Morgan蘑菇视频 miscues in a 12-0 win last Wednesday afternoon in the Class A third-place consolation contest at Ross Memorial Park.
The Scotties (11-7) had 11 singles, ran the bases well, scored six unearned runs and rode the arm of starter Matt Costello in the playoff triumph. Union will open up play in the first round of the PIAA playoffs on Monday.
In the loss, the Rockets (12-7) struggled in all three phases of the game and couldn鈥檛 overcome their errors.
J-M, who won Section 2-A and swept the regular season series with Greensburg Central Catholic, was reeling from a defeat to GCC in the semifinals last week.
鈥淥ur plan coming into today was to get off to a good start,鈥� J-M coach John Curtis said. 鈥淲e had to get the first run and play with the momentum. We were off for a week, so we were a little flat. Things just snowballed on us and we couldn鈥檛 get out of the hole. We didn鈥檛 play well today and I鈥檓 not sure why.
鈥淭hat蘑菇视频 by far our worst performance all year. Guys missed signs and we ran into a lot of outs on the bases. We ran the bases pathetically, and I鈥檓 not sure why that happened today. I just feel bad for our seniors.鈥�
Union opened up the scoring in the first inning when Tyler Benedict蘑菇视频 RBI groundout scored leadoff hitter Seth Pinkerton.
The Rockets squandered a scoring chance in the second inning, as they ended the frame with three straight singles.
With one out, Jacob Broadwater singled, but was picked off at first.
Brennan Kozich reached base with a hit, but he was called out after a collision at home after a hard hit single by Devin Stoneking to end the second.
In the third, the Scotties sent 12 to the plate and scored six runs on four hits and three errors by J-M. Evan Pinkerton and Bryce Smith recorded RBI singles in the frame.
Jefferson-Morgan had another solid scoring chance in the fourth when Isaac Dean started the inning with a hustle triple, but his courtesy runner was left stranded after Costello was able to get out the jam unscathed.
After a scoreless fifth, the Scotties tacked on two more runs in the sixth courtesy of a sacrifice fly by Braydon Porter and a RBI base knock by Evan Pinkerton.
The Rockets loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth via an infield error and two walks, but once again Costello worked out of trouble and ended the threat with a strikeout and a groundout to shortstop.
Union extended its lead in the seventh with three runs, as two runs crossed home plate after an infield throwing error, and another scored on a wild pitch.
Costello tossed six shutout innings, scattering six hits with nine strikeouts and two walks. The junior righty also picked off two runners.
鈥淯nion is a well-coached team,鈥� Curtis said. 鈥淭hey are quick and they make contact with the ball. Their pitcher was dealing and threw a lot of strikes with his curveball. They didn鈥檛 make the key mistakes like we did today.鈥�
Gage Clark was tagged with the loss, throwing six innings and allowing nine runs on nine hits with three strikeouts and two walks.
Despite the loss, J-M and its five seniors (Clark, Dean, Kozich, Eli Rafail and Joe Headlee) had a memorable season claiming the school蘑菇视频 first section title since the 1980s and the school蘑菇视频 first playoff win in the quarterfinals since 2001.
鈥淭his game doesn鈥檛 take away all the good these kids did this year,鈥� Curtis said. 鈥淲e won our section and we have three wins against the two teams in the finals (GCC and Jeannette). Today wasn鈥檛 our day, and sometimes that蘑菇视频 how baseball goes.鈥�