Yough rallies past Hempfield East to even Westmoreland County summer baseball series

By: Paul Schofield
Tuesday, July 28, 2020 | 9:44 PM

Vinny Martin hit a two-run home run, Steve Manon added a two-run single, and Yough evened its best-of-three series in the Westmoreland County American Baseball League playoffs with Hempfield East with a 5-2 win at Sutersville on Tuesday.

Martin, who earned a save in relief, hit his home run in first inning.

After Hempfield East tied the score in the fourth, Yough got the winning run in the fifth inning on a ground out by Cody Ulander to score Nate Wilkins.

Manon’s hit, which came with two outs in the sixth inning, pushed the lead to 5-2.

Michael Bell, who doubled, was the winning pitcher.

Game 3 is 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at West Hempfield’s Lint Field.

Latrobe 8, Mt. Pleasant 7 (9) — Ben Anderson drove in the winning run with a single in the ninth inning, and top-seed Latrobe survived another scare from two-win Mt. Pleasant in Game 2 of their series.

Latrobe sweeps the best-of-three series, 2-0.

Mt. Pleasant used a six-run fifth inning to grab a 7-3 lead. But an RBI double by Ben Rafferty in the sixth inning cut the lead to three runs, and the Jethawks tied the score with three runs in the top of the seventh on an RBI triple by Clay Petrosky, a sacrifice fly by Anderson and an RBI single by Rafferty.

Rafferty picked up the win in relief.

Petrosky and Rafferty each had three hits.

Murrysville 8, Derry 4 — Murrysville completed its two-game sweep of Derry with a win at Sloan Field in Blairsville.

Luke Fisher hit two home runs and had four RBIs for Murrysville. Zach Miller had two doubles, a home run and two RBIs.

Winning pitcher Matt Skelly struck out nine and scattered 11 hits.

Mason Seftas homered for Derry.

Bushy Run 4-2, Young Township 3-9 — It’s on to a Game 3 for Bushy Run and Young Township after the two teams split their games.

Bushy Run won the completion of Monday’s suspended game, 4-3, while Young Township pitcher Blake Fairman tossed a one-hitter in the nightcap.

Game 3 is 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Sunrise Elementary School.

Westmoreland County American Baseball League

Playoffs (Best-of-3)

Game 1

Monday’s results

Latrobe 5, Mt. Pleasant 3

Hempfield East 12, Yough 3

Murrysville 7, Dery 4

Bushy Run 2, Young Township 0 (suspended in fourth inning)

Tuesday’s results

Latrobe 8, Mt. Pleasant 7 (9 inn,), Latrobe wins series, 2-0.

Murrysville 8, Derry 4, Murrysville wins series, 2-0.

Yough 5, Hempfield East 2, series tied 1-1

Bushy Run 4, Young Township 3

Young Township 9, Bushy Run 2, series tied 1-1.

Wednesday’s schedule

Young Township at Bushy Run (Sunrise Elementary), 5:30 p.m.

Yough at Hempfield East (Lint Field), 5:30 p.m.

Summaries

Yough 5, Hempfield East 2

Hempfield East 000-200-0—2-4-1

Yough 200-012-x—5-7-3

WP: Michael Bell. LP: Hunter Miles. S: Vinny Martin.

2B: Y: Michael Bell.

HR: Y: Vinny Martin.

Latrobe 8, Mt. Pleasant 7 (9 inn.)

Latrobe 110-101-301—8-14-2

Mt. Pleasant 001-060-000—7-8-5

WP: Ben Rafferty. LP: Joe Shrum.

2B: L Rafferty 2.

3B: L: Clay Petrosky.

3 or more hits: L: Petrosky 3 for 5; Rafferty 3 for 6.

Murrysville 8, Derry 4

Murrysville 200-221-1—8-10-2

Derry 101-000-2—4-11-3

WP: Matt Skelly. LP: Andrew Baker.

2B: M: Zach Miller 2.

HR: M: Luke Fisher 2, Miller. D: Mason Seftas.

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.