Blue Mountain clinches top seed in County League
Dunbar catcher Tyler McWilliams covers home as Blue Mountain's Chuck Gasti (1) and J.W. Kayla (21) score on base hit by teammate Josh George during Wednesday's Fayette County Baseball League game in Connellsville Twp.
Dunbar second baseman Kyle Martin (right) tosses the ball to shortstop Alex Fogle to get the force out on Blue Mountain's Seth Krall during Wednesday's Fayette County Baseball League game in Connellsville Twp.
?CONNELLSVILLE TWP. 鈥� The Blue Mountain Copperheads clinched the top seed for the Fayette County Baseball League playoffs with a 6-0 win at Dunbar Wednesday evening.
The Copperheads (17-6) received a strong pitching performance from Addison Scherich who held Dunbar to four hits while striking out nine, and Josh George sparked the offense with two hits and two RBI.
鈥淭his was Addison蘑菇视频 first start of the year,鈥� Copperheads manager Dickie Krause said. 鈥淗e hasn鈥檛 been able to pitch for us because of his work schedule. He蘑菇视频 a veteran college pitcher. The last two games we鈥檝e started two pitchers with a combined three starts and they threw back-to-back shutouts. That蘑菇视频 a big plus for us in a lot of ways.鈥�
Blue Mountain took the lead in the first. Seth Krall led off with a single, and Rich Smykla sacrificed him to second. J.W.Kayla蘑菇视频 ground ball to second moved the runner to third, and Chuck Gasti was safe on an error at short, which allowed Krall to score.
The Copperheads added another run in the second when Josh George got the first of his two hits. George Taylor tripled to center scoring George, making the score 2-0.
Dunbar蘑菇视频 (2-20) Mike Zukowski was tough on the mound despite the loss and kept the game close, retiring eight of the next 10 hitters he faced.
鈥淭his has been the story of our season. When we get a good pitching performance we don鈥檛 hit for him,鈥� Dunbar蘑菇视频 Jeff McWilliams said. 鈥淚鈥檓 still seeing some improvement. We鈥檙e a young team and we鈥檙e getting better. We鈥檒l be ready to battle next year.鈥�
Blue Mountain broke through against Zukowski in the fifth, scoring four runs. Krall singled for his second hit of the day to start the inning. He was forced at second on a ground ball by Smykla who was safe on the fielder蘑菇视频 choice before Kayla walked and Gasti singled to load the bases. Ron Nopwasky蘑菇视频 groundout to short scored Smykla, leaving runners at second at third.
Josh George got his second hit of the day, driving in two to give the Copperheads a 5-0 lead. Taylor followed with his second hit of the game, moving George to third. George scored when a pickoff throw went into left field.
鈥淚鈥檓 real pleased right now. That蘑菇视频 a goal to go into the playoffs as the number one seed.鈥滽rause said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e overcome a lot this year. We have five or six guys out with some injuries and a couple could be gone for the year, and they are all front line players. Our depth has been tested. We鈥檝e always been one of the deepest teams in the league, and tonight you saw that.鈥�