HUGHESTOWN — It seems to happen very frequently that a team breaks up a pitcher’s no-hit or perfect game bid in the late innings then carries the momentum to a victory.
It happened again on Thursday at the Pittston Area Primary Center.
Wyoming Valley West’s Nate Baranski was cruising, needing just seven more outs to finish off the feat. But with two outs in the fifth inning, Pittston Area broke up the perfect game then scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth for a 4-1 victory in a Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 showdown.
“Today, no matter what happened, we just kept battling,” Pittston Area coach Paul Zaffuto said. “We just kept doing the things we normally do to succeed and we got lucky today.”
It wasn’t just the two hits in the bottom of the fifth that gave the Patriots (7-3) the momentum; the swing started with a step-out. With opposing pitcher Cole Cherkas in the batter’s box, he stepped out for time. Even though the at-bat ended in a strikeout, the few seconds out of the box was enough to throw off Baranski’s rhythm. After that, Derrick Cunis and Riley Brody followed with a bleeder and a bloop for the team’s first two baserunners of the game.
“Nate’s top-notch. He’s a bulldog out there. Nothing fazes him out there,” Zaffuto said. “We tried to break rhythm. We said ‘If you see him getting in that groove, just take a step out and make him mad that way.’ But you’re not gonna make him mad by yelling and screaming. We broke that rhythm and I guess it worked.”
In the sixth inning, Pittston Area batted around against Baranski, taking advantage of two Spartans errors to score four runs. The big hit in the frame was a two-run single by Joe Cencetti. The other two runs crossed the plate on groundouts. The Patriots also got an infield single from Cunis with two outs in the inning on a play that could have been scored an error.
“They didn’t beat us, we beat ourselves,” Spartans coach John Milius said. “Two errors, a throwing (miscue), you can’t win that way. You can’t give somebody three extra outs in an inning.”
Meanwhile, Cherkas was throwing the best game of his career. After allowing a run on three hits in the second inning, the junior settled down, giving up just two more hits after that stanza. After a leadoff single in the third inning, he set down 13 in a row before Baranski doubled with two outs in the seventh.
“To come out and keep throwing strikes, that’s all we really needed. Just throw strikes because our defense plays outstanding,” Zaffuto said. “He kept coming out throwing his off-speed for strikes. He threw his cutter for a strike. He threw his fastball for a strike. He was around the zone all day.”
The Spartans (6-4) could have had a big inning in the second, but they ran into two outs on the bases on the same play. When Ryan Stevens hit a bloop single with one out and two on, both runners were called out, one in between second and third, and the other sliding into second base.
“It took us out of a big inning with stupid baserunning,” said Milius. “Hat’s off to them (the Patriots). They made the play. They made the right call. I’m just a little disappointed in our kid not getting a big enough jump (off of first base).”
With three games remaining in the division, both teams are chasing Hazleton Area (8-2) in the standings, but both teams get to play the Cougars another time. The Spartans travel to Hazleton on May 9, while the Patriots head south on the last day of the regular season, May 14.
Tunkhannock 4, Wyoming Area 3
Tunkhannock and Wyoming Area exchanged two-run seventh innings in Tunkhannock’s wild walk-off win.
Tyler Faux saved the day for the Tigers. He came in in the seventh inning to extinguish the Warriors rally, and he followed it with the game-winning double in the bottom of the inning.
Shane Wood had a good day for the Tunkhannock offense, going 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI.
Caleb Graham went 1-for-3 for Wyoming Area with two RBI.
Hanover Area 3, Northwest 1
Connor Hummer went 2-for-3 at the plate and also shut the door on the mound, holding Northwest scoreless over the final two innings.
Tommy Antolik went 2-for-2 to lead the Rangers, who were held to three hits on the day.
Nanticoke Area 13, Berwick 3 (6 inn.)
Trahjan Krupinski led the Nanticoke Area offense, going 2-for-4 with a home run, double and three RBI. Collin Brown also contributed, going 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored.
Max Slusser provided the Bulldogs offense, going 1-for-3 with a three-run home run.
Lehman at Dallas postponed
The Back Mountain rivalry game between Lake-Lehman and Dallas was postponed during pregame when heavy rain made the field unplayable.
No makeup date has been set.
Pittston Area 4, Wyoming Valley West 1
Wyo Valley West`AB`R`H`BI
O’Kane lf`3`0`1`0
Gibbons ss `3`0`0`0
Kane 1b`3`0`0`0
Banas c`3`0`1`0
Kolesar rf`0`0`0`0
Dudeck dh`2`1`0`0
Baranski p`3`0`1`0
Federici 3b`3`0`1`1
Stevens cf`2`0`1`0
Vought 2b`2`0`0`0
Totals`24`1`5`1
Pittston Area`AB`H`R`BI
Krawczyk cf`3`1`1`0
Stella c`2`1`0`0
Cencetti 3b` 3`0`1`2
Sciandra pr` 0`1`0`0
DeLucca lf`3`0`0`1
Cherkas p`3`0`0`1
Cunis 2b`3`0`2`0
Baiera ss`0`0`0`0
Brody dh`2`0`1`0
Pisano pr`0`0`0`0
Ralston 1b`3`0`0`0
Dillon rf`2`1`0`0
Totals`24`4`5`4
2B: Baranski.
Wyo. Valley West`010`000`0`—`1
Pittston Area`000`004`x` —`4
Wyo. Valley West`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Baranski (L) `6.0`5`4`4`1`3
Pittston Area`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Cherkas (W) `7.0`5`1`1`1`8
Tunkhannock 4, Wyoming Area 3
Wyoming Area`AB`R`H`BI
Coolbaugh cf `4`1`1`0
Yochem rf `4`1`0`0
Kelleher c `4`0`1`0
Graham 3b `3`0`1`2
Petrucci 1b `3`1`1`0
Hallman p `0`0`0`0
Williams dh `3`0`2`0
Angellela 2b `2`0`1`0
Weidl ss `3`0`0`0
Nossavage lf `1`0`1`0
Hood lf `1`0`0`0
Totals`28`3`8`2
Tunkhannock`AB`R`H`BI
Faux ss/p `4`0`1`0
Reposa p/ss `2`1`1`0
Mislevy 1b `3`1`1`0
Astegher 3b `3`0`1`1
Wood rf `3`0`2`1
Dziak c `2`1`0`0
Stephens cf `0`0`0`0
Baltrusaitis dh `3`1`1`0
Robinson lf `2`0`0`0
Munley lf `1`0`1`0
Sackmann 2b `2`0`0`1
Totals`25`4`8`4
Wyoming Area`000`100`2 — 3
Tunkhannock`200`000`2 — 4
2B — Petrucci, Astegher, Wood, Faux.
Wyoming Area`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Hallman (L) `7`8`4`4`1`4
Tunkhannock`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Reposa`6.1`6`3`1“2`7
Faux (W) `0.2`2`0`0`0`1
Hanover Area 3, Northwest 1
Northwest`AB`R`H`BI
Ridgley p `2`0`0`0
Saxe 2b `2`1`0`0
Piestrak ss `3`0`0`0
Antolik lf `2`0`2`1
Gregory cf `3`0`0`0
Noss 1b `3`0`0`0
Capece 3b `3`0`1`0
Boyer rf `3`0`0`0
Mott c `0`0`0`0
Piertoni dh `2`0`0`0
Totals`23`1`3`1
Hanover Area`AB`R`H`BI
Polanco ss `3`0`0`0
George 2b `4`0`0`0
Stefanowicz 3b `2`0`1`1
Hummer 1b `3`0`2`0
Jaslar cf `0`0`0`0
Kolbicka dh `3`0`0`0
Quaglia rf `2`0`0`0
Richards c `2`1`0`0
Stefanski p `1`1`0`0
Rowley lf `3`1`1`0
Totals`23`3`4`1
Northwest`100`000`0 — 1
Hanover Area`010`200`x — 3
Northwest`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Ridgley (L) `3.1`3`3`2`4`2
Noss`2.2`1`0`0`2`2
Hanover Area`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Stefanski (W) `5`1`1`0`3`3
Hummer`2`2`0`0`0`2
Nanticoke Area 13, Berwick 3 (6 inn.)
Berwick`AB`R`H`BI
Kishbaugh ss `3`0`0`0
Gearinger lf `2`1`0`0
Novicki 1b `1`0`0`0
Levan c `2`1`0`0
Kemp 3b `0`0`0`0
Shaffer p `0`0`0`0
Slusser dh `3`1`1`3
Lombardo 2b `2`0`0`0
Wygant cf `2`0`0`0
McCracken p `1`0`1`0
Cerasoli rf `2`0`0`0
Totals`18`3`2`3
Nanticoke Area`AB`R`H`BI
Myers 2b `4`2`3`4
Matson p `4`1`3`3
Cease ss `3`1`1`1
T. Krupinski 1b `4`2`2`3
Heald c `0`0`0`0
Pokrinchak dh `2`0`0`0
Bobeck dh `2`0`0`0
Szychowski cf `3`0`1`0
Balliet ph `1`1`1`0
J. Krupinski lf `2`1`0`0
Ormes 2b `1`1`1`1
Heffron 3b `3`2`1`0
Brown rf `3`2`2`1
Sura rf `0`0`0`0
Bielecki ph `1`0`0`0
Totals`33`13`15`13
Berwick`000`300 — 3
Nanticoke Area`003`244 — 13
2B — T. Krupinski. HR — BER, Slusser. NAN, T. Krupinski.
Berwick`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
McCracken (L) `4.2`9`8`8`0`4
Shaffer`0.1`1`1`1`1`0
Kishbaugh`0.1`1`1`1`0`0
Hughes`0.1`4`3`3`1`1
Nanticoke Area`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Matson (W) `4`2`3`3`4`3
Cease`2`0`0`0`3`2
