H.S. Baseball: Wyoming Area edges Holy Redeemer to tighten Division 2 race

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WEST PITTSTON — Three Wyoming Area batters came to the plate with the bases loaded in the seventh inning Tuesday, all seeking a hit.

All three failed to get one, but the alternative was just enough to give the Warriors a victory.

Noah Smith, Jeremy Layland and Chase Speicher drew bases-loaded walks to push Wyoming Area ahead and the Warriors held off Holy Redeemer 8-7 in a key Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 baseball game.

“That’s what we talked about every day, going up there with a plan and making sure what our job is at hand,” Wyoming Area coach Rob Lemoncelli said. “And sometimes your job changes every pitch, let alone every at-bat.

“These guys have a pretty good idea of the strike zone. We don’t have guys that hit the ball over the fence, so we have to make sure we have guys who can handle the bat whether it’s a bunt, a fake bunt, slash. Whatever it might be.”

Redeemer finished its Division 2 season at 9-3 and fell to 13-5 overall. Wyoming Area (8-3 Div. 2, 10-8) still has to play Hanover Area in a divisional game on Thursday. A Wyoming Area win would result in a divisional tie and a special playoff game to determine the champion. Wyoming Area defeated Hanover Area 12-2 on April 19.

Based on the emotion from both teams during the game and some fans from both teams afterward, a playoff game could be quite interesting.

Redeemer led 6-5 going into the seventh and recorded a quick out. Wyoming Area then had Jacob Snyder walk, Matt Rusinski single and David Fath get plunked by a pitch to load the bases.

Smith, who had a drive to left caught near the fence in the third inning, walked to tie the score. An out later, Layland and Speicher walked to give Wyoming Area an 8-6 lead.

Redeemer didn’t go quietly in the bottom of the seventh. Neither did some fans after the game.

First the baseball aspect. Cody Quaglia led off with a walk and then scored from first on groundout combined with a throwing error to move the Royals within 8-7.

Snyder, though, got two of the next three batters he faced — in between Redeemer coach Ryan Knowles and an assistant getting ejected — to end the game. Snyder struck out seven and allowed one hit in four innings of relief.

“He threw really well for them,” Knowles said. “Jake is a really good pitcher. Credit to him. He made all the right pitches and they played good defense behind him.”

Knowles was ejected after coming in from the third-base coaching box to get an explanation on his assistant’s ejections. Then after the game, fans from both teams exchanged some heated words — with a few vulgarities sprinkled in to spice things up — behind the backstop.

Redeemer looked like it was going to pull away with a four-run third, taking a 5-1 lead. Alex Gordon’s groundout brought in two runs, one via RBI and the other on an error on the play. Zach Schultz plated a run with a sacrifice fly and DJ McDermott scored on a wild pitch.

Wyoming Area responded with three runs in the bottom of the third, with Tom Carlin’s RBI triple the only hit of the inning for the Warriors. An error with two outs brought two runs across the plate.

Wyoming Area 8, Holy Redeemer 7

Holy Redeemer`AB`R`H`BI

Kopec cf`3`1`0`0

Cisney lf-p`3`1`1`0

Quaglia ss`1`3`1`0

Gordon 1b`4`0`1`3

Stevenson c`4`0`1`0

McDermott rf`2`1`0`0

Schultz 3b-p`3`0`0`1

Hendrzak dh`2`0`0`0

Mazzarella p`0`0`0`0

Hurst 2b`2`0`0`0

Totals`25`7`4`4

Wyoming Area`AB`R`H`BI

Snyder cf-p`3`2`1`0

Ma.Rusinchak lf-cf`3`1`1`0

Fath 2b`2`3`2`0

Smith dh`1`0`0`1

Yatsko 3b`0`0`0`0

Noone ss`3`1`1`1

Layland c`3`0`0`2

Speicher 1b`3`1`0`1

Carlin p`3`0`2`1

Donati lf`1`0`0`0

Rogish lf`0`0`0`0

Mi.Rusinchak rf`3`0`0`0

Dymond cr`0`0`0`0

Totals`25`8`7`6

Holy Redeemer`104`100`1 — 7

Wyoming Area`203`003`x — 8

2B — Quaglia, Cisney. 3B — Carlin.

Holy Redeemer`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO

Mazzarella`3.0`5`5`2`2`2

Schultz (L)`2.1`2`3`3`2`1

Cisney`0.2`0`0`0`3`2

Wyoming Area`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO

Carlin`3`3`5`5`5`1

Snyder (W)`4`1`2`1`3`7