Baseball sweeps New Ken with thrilling walk-off

Saturday afternoon, the Penn State Fayette baseball team swept Penn State New Kensington for the second time in as many days.

But unlike Friday when Fayette (8-8 overall, 8-7 PSUAC) outscored New Kensington (0-18, 0-16) by a combined 33-9 advantage, Saturday saw Fayette win a pair of close games with the nightcap possibly being the PSUAC Game of the Year.

In the finale, it appeared Fayette was en route to another blowout win as it took a 14-2 lead after three innings.

However, with Fayette's lead sitting at 15-4 going into the fifth inning, the guests erupted for 10 runs in the fifth to trim the Fayette lead to a single run.  New Kensington scored three runs in the sixth to take a 17-15 lead and added a run in the seventh to take an 18-15 lead into the bottom of the seventh.

Fayette loaded the bases in to start the inning and an Anthony DellaPenna (Brownsville, PA/Beth-Center HS) sacrifice fly brought in Nik Gibson (Uniontown, PA/Uniontown HS) to make the score 18-16.  TJ Lux (West Newton, PA/Yough HS) followed with an RBI single to score Kade Musgrove (Connellsville, PA/Connellsville HS) to trim Fayette's deficit to a single run.  In stepped Nate Zimcosky (Uniontown, PA/Laurel Highlands HS), and the freshman drilled a game-winning three-run home run to give Fayette the win.

For the game, Fayette finished with 18 hits while New Kensington recorded 17.  Six Fayette players had two hits as Zimcosky had a single and the home run, Lux and Alex Gesk (Uniontown, PA/Laurel Highlands HS) each had a single and a double, Kaleb Scott (Uniontown, PA/Laurel Highlands HS) had a triple and a single, Gibson had a pair of doubles and Musgrove had a pair of singles. 

Scott finished with a career-high five RBI for Fayette while Zimcosky drove in three.  Musgrove, Gibson, Cade Warrick (Mill Run, PA/Connellsville HS) and Matt Morgan (Eighty-Four, PA/Ringgold HS) each had two RBI.

Zach Kerr led New Kensington with four hits, including three singles and a double, and added three RBI.  Reise Matson had two doubles, a single and six RBI while Tallon Auth had three hits, scored three runs and drove in two.  Tim Morris added a double and three RBI.

Chris Rendulic (Port Vue, PA/South Allegheny HS) picked up the win on the mound as he went 2.1 innings to close out the game.  He gave up five runs, all earned, on six hits and struck out four.  Cory Fleming (Monessen, PA/Monessen HS) started for Fayette and gave up six runs, four earned, in four innings.  Jorge Palmas replaced Fleming in the fifth and recorded two outs.  He gave up nine runs, five earned, on five hits.

Fayette won the opener, 5-2.  Zimcosky continued his torrid pace as he finished with a single, a double and two RBI.  Lux also had multiple hits for Fayette as he had a pair of singles. 

Trailing 1-0 in the third, Zimcosky doubled in Lux and then scored on a single by Scott. 

The score held into the sixth when Fayette added three runs.  Musgrove singled in two runs and then Fleming scored on a sacrifice fly by Zimcosky.

Joe Sager (Bethel Park, PA/Bethel Park HS) went 6.2 innings to earn the win on the mound, but when New Kensington trimmed the lead to 5-2 with two outs in the seventh, Rendulic came in to get the last out to preserve the win for Fayette.

Sager gave up two runs, both earned, and seven hits while striking out three and walking four.

With nine hits over the four games this weekend, Zimcosky is now hitting .462 on the season, which is good for second on the team and fourth in the PSUAC.  He is also fourth in hits (24), second in total bases (39), second in slugging percentage (.750), eighth in on base percentage (.517), first in doubles (10), sixth in triples (one) third in runs (21), and ninth in RBI (14).  Musgrove in third in the PSUAC with a .485 batting average, fifth in slugging percentage (.667) and seventh in on base percentage (.526).

Fayette has now won four games in a row with its prior longest winning streak of the season being two game.  It had accomplished the feat twice.

The team returns to action when it heads to Penn State Beaver (3-17, 1-17) Tuesday for a double header before the teams play one game at Fayette Wednesday.  After having Thursday off, Fayette and Penn State DuBois (15-3, 12-3) will play a pair of double headers this coming weekend.  The teams will play at DuBois Friday before heading back to Fayette to close the season Saturday.

For more on the Penn State Fayette baseball team, go to https://www.psfathletics.com/sports/bsb/index.