Uniontown Legion outlasts Farmington, 13-11
?WHARTON TWP. 鈥� Considering the personnel makeup of the teams, it was fitting that the Uniontown and Farmington game on Friday night went down to the wire at Legion Field.
Uniontown held off a Farmington rally in the ninth to clinch a 13-11 victory.
Trailing 13-8 after surrendering three ru ns in the seventh, Farmington (7-9) got its first run since the fifth as Michael Haines walked to force in Cody Jackson.
Later in the inning, Farmington pulled within a couple of runs with two away, as designated hitter Anthony Molchan singled to drive in Frank Duritsky and Ethan Clipp.
Facing a situation with two runners in scoring position, Uniontown (12-4) relief pitcher Aaron King struck out Anthony Sparks to preserve the win and give his team the season series sweep against Farmington (2-0).
Scott DeBerry, the Uniontown manager, said that the game was a testimony to intensity between the teams.
鈥淚 told our guys that they (Farmington) wanted to win this game badly,鈥� said DeBerry. 鈥淚t was a back-and-forth game, and looking at where these kids are from and the fact they are so familiar with each other makes these games exciting. Frankly, even after taking the lead I couldn鈥檛 say for sure what the final result would be.鈥�
King finished with one hit, two walks, and two strikeouts in relief, while starting pitcher Mason Fordyce improved to 5-1 with 12 hits, a walk and nine strikeouts.
Tied in the sixth, Uniontown took a 9-8 lead when Cody Gibson scored on a Mike Patricelli single.
Uniontown added another run later in the inning, as Mason Fordyce brought Adam Crayton home for a 10-8 advantage.
While proud of his team鈥檚 19 hits, DeBerry pointed out that his team needs to improve as it left 13 men on base.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 going to hurt us,鈥� said DeBerry. 鈥淥ne game we left 17 runners on base. In close games like these, you can鈥檛 do that. That said, our hitting was very successful tonight, considering who we were facing on the mound in (Alex) Panos.鈥�
Jake Riddell went four-for-six with three RBI and scored three runs.
Bobby King, Crayton and Patricelli had three hits, while Max Beatty and Fordyce recorded two.
Panos falls to 4-3 in a complete game effort, as he walked four batters and struck out five.
Litman and Panos led Farmington with three hits and three RBI, while Jackson and Duritsky added two hits apiece.
Farmington manager Lloyd Jackson felt his team鈥檚 10 errors made the difference.
鈥淗ad we not committed a few of those it might have been an entirely different game,鈥� said Jackson. 鈥淵ou never want to commit errors, and certainly we had more than we usually do, but especially in a game like this they hurt. They make your pitcher do more work, give your team a larger task to accomplish, and give the other guys chances to score.鈥�
Uniontown hosts Charleroi at 6?p.m. Tuesday.