RICE TWP. — Greater Pittston had a long wait to get its American Legion baseball Wyoming Valley League Senior started.
When the local team finally got to its opener Thursday, Mountain Post couldn’t wait for the game to end.
Winning pitcher Joe Gavenonis drove in four runs and Greater Pittston blasted host Mountain Post, 18-0, in four innings.
Greater Pittston had openers postponed three days in a row by a combination of weather and its home field being used for the start of the state high school playoffs.
Once it finally had a chance to play, Greater Pittston scored two runs in each of the first two innings, then batted around in the next two innings to end the game early.
“It was good to get a game in,” Greater Pittston manager Jerry Ranieli said.
Ranieli is an assistant coach at Pittston Area during the high school baseball season, but the majority of the team, including Thursday’s leaders Gavenonis, Jeremy Zezza and Tyler Mitchell, play for rival Wyoming Area.
“We got to see just about everybody,” Ranieli said after using 16 players. “I don’t coach them all year; I only coach a couple of them.
“They all played hard right to the end. I liked that.”
Ranieli even had to slow his team down, stopping the runners after one base on multiple bases-loaded hits in the nine-run fourth inning when the hits had the potential to go for extra bases and score more than the one run at a time that came in.
Gavenonis and Lucas Jurchak combined on a one-hitter.
Gavenonis pitched three innings, giving up the hit one and one walk while striking out five. Jurchak retired the three batters he faced in the fourth inning with two strikeouts.
Greater Pittston produced 15 hits, including three by Tyler Jackson.
Gavenonis, Zezza and Mitchell each had two hits while combining to drive in nine runs. Mitchell drove in three and Zezza two.
Cory Lescavage scored four runs and Mitchell three.
Jackson had two of the team’s four doubles. Mitchell and Evan Musto had the others.
Lescavage and Zach Lopatka each had a hit and two RBI.
Greater Pittston got at least one run and one RBI from every spot in the batting order.
The Greater Pittston schedule will become much busier beginning at 3 p.m. Sunday with a doubleheader against Back Mountain at Misericordia University.
Four players are part of the Wyoming Valley Conference team for the Field of Dreams senior high school all-star game at 1 at PNC Field. Ranieli said he hopes to have two of those players available by game time and have the other two join when the all-star game is over.
