BB swept in first-place showdown

Lemont Furnace, PA - Heading into action at second place Penn State Mont Alto Sunday, the Penn State Fayette baseball team was in first place in the Pennsylvania State University Athletic Conference's West division.

But following a sweep by Mont Alto (7-1 overall, 5-1 PSUAC), the hosts have taken over first place while Fayette (2-3, 2-2) dropped into fourth.

"We made a lot of routine mistakes and struggled to keep the walks down," coach Mike Sikorski said of his pitching staff which had 10 walks in the first game and then eight in the nightcap.

In the opener, an 11-8 win for Mont Alto, TJ Lux (West Newton, PA/Yough HS) led off the game with a double and scored on a Nate Zimcosky (Uniontown, PA/Laurel Highlands HS) single.  Three batters later, Fayette pulled off a double steal with Kaleb Scott (Uniontown, PA/Laurel Highlands HS) stealing home to give Fayette a 2-0 lead. 

Mont Alto took a 3-2 lead in its half of the first before tacking on a run in the second, two in the fourth and five in fifth to take an 11-2 lead.

Fayette scored six runs in the seventh to make the score respectable. 

Cade Warrick (Mill Run, PA/Connellsville HS) and Noah Hansen (New Kensington, PA/Kiski Area HS) were both hit by pitches with the bases loaded to bring in runs before Nik Gibson (Uniontown, PA/Uniontown HS) hit a bases loaded double to score three more.  Anthony DellaPenna (Brownsville, PA/Beth-Center HS) closed the scoring with an RBI single.

Lux finished the game with a double and two singles while Scott had three singles.

Four Fayette pitchers combined for 10 walks with Hansen (0-1) suffering the loss.

Mont Alto won the second game, 10-7.

Fayette was active on the base paths early and it produced two first inning runs.  Lux recorded a one-out single and advanced to third on a Zimcosky single.  The duo then pulled off a double steal, their second of the day, with Lux scoring.  Consecutive wild pitches brought in Zimcosky.

Mont Alto scored a run in both the second and third innings to tie the game and then it scored eight runs on four hits in the fourth to take control of the contest.  The hosts were also aided by a Fayette error in the inning.

Trailing 8-2 heading into the fifth, Fayette scored five runs to trim the Mont Alto lead to 10-7.  With the bases loaded, Warrick was hit by a pitch to bring in Garrett Stevenson (Hempfield, PA/Hempfield HS) and then Dylan Bohna (Uniontown, PA/Laurel Highlands HS) scored on a Hansen bases loaded walk.  Gibson followed with an RBI single, and Andrew Despot (Moon, PA/Moon HS) produced a two-run double to close the scoring in the inning.

Fayette would not threaten again, and Mont Alto finished the game with a double play.

Zimcosky led the six-hit attack for Fayette with two singles. 

Chris Rendulic (Port Vue, PA/South Allegheny HS) took the loss on the mound for his first decision of the season.  He gave up six runs and eight hits in 3.1 innings.

Fayette will get the chance to get revenge on Mont Alto on Monday as Fayette hosts a double header.

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