Fayette baseball swept again by PS Mont Alto

Mont Alto, PA - Monday afternoon, the Penn State Fayette baseball team was swept by Penn State Mont Alto for the second time in three days.

Currently sitting in first place in the Pennsylvania State University Athletic Conference West division, Mont Alto (9-1 overall, 7-1 PSUAC) won the opener by a score of 3-2 and the finale, 10-4.

"Costly errors hurt us in the first game, and we couldn't get timely hits," coach Mike Sikorski said. "Cory Fleming pitched lights out for us in that game."

Fleming (Monessen, PA/Monessen HS) went the distance on the mound for Fayette as he scattered seven hits over the six innings.

Mont Alto jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning of the opener, but Fayette (2-5, 2-4) cut the lead in half in the second.  Noah Hansen (New Kensington, PA/Kiski Area HS) led the inning off with a walk and went to third on a one-out double by Nik Gibson (Uniontown, PA/Uniontown HS).  Kade Musgrove (Connellsville, PA/Connellsville HS) drove Hansen in with a sacrifice fly to centerfield and the 2-1 score held into the fifth when Fayette tied the game.

After grounding into a fielder's choice, Matt Morgan (Eighty-Four, PA/Ringgold HS) was sacrificed to second by Alex Gesk (Uniontown, PA/Laurel Highlands HS).  Garrett Stevenson (Hempfield, PA/Hempfield HS) delivered with a two-out single to right to bring in Morgan, but Mont Alto countered in the bottom of the inning by scoring an unearned run that ended up being the difference in the game.

In the second game, Fayette took a 1-0 lead in the first.  After hitting a one-out double, Kaleb Scott (Uniontown, PA/Laurel Highlands HS) advanced to third on a ground out and scored on a wild pitch.  The lead did not last long though as Mont Alto scored a pair of runs in the first and three more in the second to take control of the game.

"Pitching hurt us in the first two innings and we weren't able to fully rebound form that," Sikorski said of the second game. "We came back and got within a run, but a couple of errors put the game out of reach."

Down 5-1 in the third, Nate Zimcosky (Uniontown, PA/Laurel Highlands HS) singled in TJ Lux (West Newton, PA/Yough HS) to make the score 5-2.  Lux had singled to lead off the inning and then advanced to third on consecutive errors by Mont Alto.

Fayette trimmed its deficit to a single run in the sixth by scoring a pair.  Musgrove had an RBI single and then Chris Rendulic (Port Vue, PA/South Allegheny HS) scored on a fielder's choice off the bat of Anthony DellaPenna (Brownsville, PA/Beth-Center HS).  Fayette had the momentum, but it was short-lived as Mont Alto scored five runs in the bottom of the inning to put the game away.

Andrew Despot (Moon, PA/Moon HS) led Fayette with two singles.  Jorge Palmas (Upper St. Clair, PA/Upper St. Clair HS) took the loss on the mound as he gave up five runs in 1.1 innings.

Fayette will look to get back on track as it heads Penn State Beaver (2-4, 0-4) Thursday before Fayette hosts Beaver Friday.  The teams will play doubleheaders each day.

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