Yough locks up at least a tie for section title

By: Paul Schofield
Friday, May 5, 2023 | 8:59 PM

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Yough baseball coach Dan Palm said he couldn’t have been happier with his team’s start Friday against McGuffey.

He wasn’t pleased that they let off the gas.

Yough built an early seven-run lead in the WPIAL Section 4-3A battle at Cougar Mountain and held on for an 8-5 victory.

The win clinches at least a share of the section title pending a decision on the Greensburg Salem/Brownsville game. Brownsville defeated Greensburg Salem, 6-2, but the Golden Lions are disputing a possible pitch count violation on the Falcons’ starting pitcher.

According to Greensburg Salem coach Anthony Manley, athletic director Frank Sundry has issued a report to the WPIAL.

Yough (10-0, 13-4) will enter Monday’s first-place showdown with either a one- or two-game lead on Greensburg Salem (8-2, 12-4). McGuffey (5-5, 9-6) will face Waynesburg (4-4, 6-5) in their two-game series.

“It’s going to be a big game on Monday,” Palm said. “All year, we’ve talked about the next game up. It turns out that this is a big one, the biggest one of the season. Our guys haven’t looked at it that way. Every game has been our biggest game of the year.”

The Cougars jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning on a two-run single by Matt Sanner and an RBI double by Carson Pasinski.

Yough made it 7-0 in the third inning on an RBI double by James Shoman, a single by Sanner, a triple by Pasinski and a hit by Blake Ulander.

“We attacked the ball well early in the game.” Palm said. “It was one of our better games of putting the ball in play, making hard contact and having some clutch hitting. We could have broken the game open, but we didn’t get the clutch hits late.”

Freshman pitcher Nate Bell improved to 5-0. He worked into the sixth inning and struck out six. Pasinski picked up the save, stranding the bases loaded in the top of the seventh inning.

“It’s nice to be 10-0, but we haven’t done anything yet until we win it,” Palm said about the section title. “We’ve had fun doing it, but we haven’t accomplished anything and we still have something to lose.”

Pasinski had three hits, including a triple and a double. James Shoman had three hits, including two doubles and two RBIs.

“I asked them at the end of the game that, if they’re not going to act handling a 7-0 lead, what are they going to do down 4-1 in a playoff game?” Palm said. “That’s when the at bats a lot tougher. We have to improve on making the little things better.”

Paul Schofield is a TribLive reporter covering high school and college sports and local golf. He joined the Trib in 1995 after spending 15 years at the Daily Courier in Connellsville, where he served as sports editor for 14 years. He can be reached at pschofield@triblive.com.

Tags: McGuffey, Yough