Back Mountain wins District 31 9-11 Baseball title

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KINGSTON — On the very first day of pool play in the District 31 9-11 Baseball tournament, Back Mountain’s offense was stymied in a loss to Kingston/Forty-Fort.

The two teams clashed once again on Saturday, this time with a district title on the line — and the Back Mountain bats wouldn’t be held down again.

Back Mountain blew the game open with a seven-run second inning and held Kingston/Forty Fort’s offense in check, winning the District 31 championship with a 14-2 win in four innings on Saturday.

Kingston/Forty-Fort brought Brently Nichols out to pitch on Saturday, after he was sharp against Back Mountain in their first meeting. But Back Mountain was ready for him this time.

“I think we worked since that first game in pool play, just to be more aggressive,” said Back Mountain manager Chris Mayerski. “Brently pitched a great game the first time out, he throws a lot of strikes…the gameplan going in was to be more aggressive.”

Each team was able to score a run in the first inning, both with the help of a throwing error in the field to help move runners around.

Even so, it seemed like both Nichols and Back Mountain starter Logan Hornak were going to be able to dictate the game with their pitching, both throwing hard and throwing strikes.

But Back Mountain had six of their first seven hitters reach base to start the second inning, and all six came around to score. The big blow came off the bat of Joe Bonomo, who hit a fly ball to right with the bases loaded and two outs that was misplayed, leading to three runs coming in to score.

Hornak and Coltrane Scavone each had RBI singles in the inning, and David Young pushed a run across on a bases-loaded walk.

The Back Mountain offense wasn’t done there: they scored four more in the third inning, with Young driving in two more runs, and pushed two more runs across in the fourth to give themselves a cushion with the mercy rule looming.

While Back Mountain started to take over the game with their offense, Hornak wasn’t about to let Kingston/Forty-Fort keep up.

Hornak threw three strong innings, only allowing one run on three hits. Mark Coach pitched the fourth for Back Mountain, and allowed a second Kingston/FF run to score but managed to retire the side and end the game with Back Mountain ahead 14-2.

“Logan is fantastic in regards to mixing up his pitches,” Mayerski said. “The good thing is, Mark Coach is really good right behind him, so I knew going in that I had confidence in both of them to get the job done.”

Jason Dailey and Dayne Wadas both had a hit and a run scored for Kingston/Forty-Fort. Russell Singer and Braiden Loftus each singled, and Emery Yurko drove in the team’s first run on a fielder’s choice in the first inning.

Back Mountain will advance to the Section 5 tournament, starting on Tuesday at a site not yet announced.

District 31 9-11 Baseball Championship

Back Mountain 14, Kingston/Forty-Fort 2 (4 inn.)

Back Mountain`AB`R`H`BI

Hornak p`3`2`2`1

Bonomo 3b`2`1`0`0

Coach ss-p`2`1`0`2

Mayerski 2b`2`0`0`0

Pietraccini rf`1`2`0`0

Suchodolski c`3`2`2`0

Liparela 1b`3`1`1`1

Scavone cf`2`2`2`1

Nieman lf`1`1`0`0

Walton eh`0`1`0`0

Young eh`1`1`1`3

McCormick eh`2`0`0`0

Totals`22`14`8`8

Kingston/FF`AB`R`H`BI

Dailey cf`1`1`1`0

Nichols p-lf`1`0`0`0

Wadas 1b`1`1`1`0

Yurko ss`2`0`0`1

Singer 3b`2`0`1`0

Figueroa lf-p`1`0`0`0

Varzaly c`2`0`0`0

Hankey 2b`1`0`0`0

Calvey eh`1`0`0`0

Roccograndi rf`1`0`0`0

Muniz eh`1`0`0`0

Loftus eh`1`0`1`0

Totals`15`2`4`1

Back Mountain`174`2 — 14

Kingston/FF`100`1 — 2

2B — Suchodolski 2.

Back Mountain`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO

Hornak (W)`3`3`1`1`2`2

Coach`1`1`1`1`1`1

Kingston/FF`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO

Nichols (L)`2.1`4`10`5`5`5

Figueroa`1.2`4`4`3`2`4