RICE TWP. – Mountain Post did more than just bat around in Wednesday night’s game for second place in the Wyoming Valley American Legion Senior Baseball League.
It scored around.
The first nine batters in the inning and 12 of the first 13 scored to rally Mountain Post past visiting Greater Pittston, 14-5.
Greater Pittston used three pitchers before getting an out in the inning and made matters worse with four infield errors, three on throws and two of them after making ill-advised throws on bunts.
“One inning got us again,” Greater Pittston manager Jerry Ranieli said. “We played sloppy.
“I don’t know if it was playing five games in six days or not, but you can’t give away 3-0 and 4-2 leads.”
Nick Gushka, Dylan Spurlin and Aaron Lee all singled in the top of the second for Greater Pittston. Lee drove in one run and Tyler Dougherty followed with a two-run double for the 3-0 lead.
After the bottom of the order had two doubles to get two runs back for Mountain Post in the bottom of the inning, Greater Pittston scored again in the top of the third on an unearned run.
Alex McAndrew, who scored twice, led off the fifth with an infield single and scored on a C.J. Pisack one-out single to avoid the 10-run rule.
Pisack was the last Greater Pittston batter to reach. Matt Mickowski retired the last eight to finish off his complete game for Mountain Post (7-2).
When Brandon Charney’s arm felt sore while he struggled against the first three batters of the fourth inning, Ranieli thought it was best to be careful and make a pitching game.
The game quickly got out of hand when Greater Pittston threw to the wrong base on two bunts and both times had the throws get away.
Greater Pittston Senior 7
Nanticoke 0
Lucas Jurchak threw a three-hit shutout June 11 at Nanticoke to lead Greater Pittston to a 7-0 Senior victory.
Jurchak struck out 11 while walking four.
Dylan Spurlan had a double, single and two RBI.
Brandon Charney had a triple, single and RBI.
Greater Pittston Senior 8
Nanticoke 0
Cory Lescavage made it back-to-back shutouts over Nanticoke in a span of three days when he threw a two-hitter with six strikeouts in Monday’s 8-0 victory.
Dylan Spurlin, who had a double, and Steve Homza each went 2-for-3 with a run scored.
C.J. Pisack had a hit in his only official at-bat, drew two walks and scored twice.
Greater Pittston Senior 13
Back Mountain 5
Cory Lescavage went 3-for-4 with three RBI and two runs scored Tuesday when Greater Pittston defeated Back Mountain, 13-5.
Aiden Joplin threw a complete game, allowing just two earned runs.
Steve Homza had a hit, two RBI and three runs scored. Dylan Spurlin was 1-for-2 with two runs and two RBI. Tyler Dougherty was 1-for-1 with three walks and a run scored.
Greater Pittston Senior 5
Stripes & Strikes 5
Greater Pittston and Stripes & Strikes from Hazleton were tied, 5-5, after eight innings when Thursday game was halted because of darkness.
With several players away celebrating their recent high school graduations, Greater Pittston (6-3) is off until June 28 against Tunkhannock.
Plains Senior
Plains picked up its first win of the season Friday, 9-0, over Back Mountain.
The team had dropped to 0-5 by losing, 9-4, at Tunkhannock Wednesday and, 10-0, against Nanticoke Thursday.
Greater Pittston Junior
Greater Pittston broke through with its first WVALB Junior victory, beating Stripes & Strikes from Hazleton, 5-4, Wednesday, then added two more wins with big offensive outputs the next two days.
After starting 0-4 and playing one-run games in four of its first five outings, Greater Pittston blasted Wilkes-Barre, 11-3, Thursday and Tunkhannock, 12-2, Friday.
The 0-4 start, included a 6-3 loss to Nanticoke June 11 and an 8-7 loss to Tunkhannock June 13.
Plains Junior
Plains moved above the .500 mark in WVALB Junior play by winning three out of four games, averaging a dozen runs per game in the wins.
Plains pounded Wilkes-Barre, 13-2, June 11 and handled Back Mountain, 12-5, Monday. After losing, 6-4, to Back Mountain Tuesday, it defeated Nanticoke, 11-5, Thursday.
