HS Baseball: Wyoming Area passes Holy Redeemer to tighten Division 2 race

Wyoming Area’s Brady Noone singles in Jacob Snyder from third in the first inning against Holy Redeemer. Tony Callaio | For Times Leader

WEST PITTSTON — Three Wyoming Area batters came to bat in the seventh inning Tuesday with the bases loaded, all looking for a hit.

All three failed to get one, but the alternative was just enough to give the Warriors a win.

Noah Smith, Jeremy Layland and Chase Speicher walked with the bases loaded to put Wyoming Area ahead and the Warriors held off Holy Redeemer 8-7 in a key Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 baseball game.

“That’s what we talked about every day, we went out there with a plan and made sure our job was done,” Wyoming Area coach Rob Lemoncelli said. “And sometimes your trajectory changes every pitch, let alone every at-bat.”

“These guys have a pretty good idea of ​​the strike zone. We don’t have guys who hit the ball over the fence, so we have to make sure we have guys who can handle the bat, whether it’s a bunt, a fake bunt or a slash. Whatever it may be.”

Redeemer finished its Division 2 season at 9-3 and fell to 13-5 overall. Wyoming Area (8-3 Div. 2, 10-8) still has to play Hanover Area in a divisional game on Thursday. A Wyoming Area win would result in a division tie and a special playoff game to determine the champion. Wyoming Area defeated Hanover Area 12-2 on April 19.

Based on the emotions of both teams during the game and some of the fans of both teams afterward, a playoff game could be quite interesting.

Redeemer led 6-5 entering the seventh inning and recorded a quick out. Wyoming Area then walked Jacob Snyder, Matt Rusinski singled and David Fath was sacked by a pitch to load the bases.

Smith, who had a drive to left in the third inning that was caught near the fence, walked to tie the score. An out later, Layland and Speicher walked to give Wyoming Area an 8-6 lead.

Redeemer did not start quietly in the bottom of the seventh inning. Some fans don’t either after the match.

First the baseball aspect. Cody Quaglia led off with a walk and then scored from first base on a grounder combined with a throwing error to bring the Royals within 8-7.

However, Snyder got two of the next three batters he faced — between Redeemer coach Ryan Knowles and an assistant who was ejected — to end the game. Snyder struck out seven and allowed one hit in four innings of relief.

“He pitched really well for them,” Knowles said. “Jake is a very good pitcher. Thanks to him. He made the right pitches and they played good defense behind him.”

Knowles was ejected after coming out of the coaching box at third base to receive an explanation of his assistant’s ejection. After the game, fans from both teams exchanged some heated words – with a few vulgarities thrown in to spice things up – behind the backstop.

It looked like Redeemer would pull away with a four-run third and take a 5-1 lead. Alex Gordon’s groundout produced two runs, one via RBI and the other on an error on the play. Zach Schultz drove in a run with a sacrifice fly and DJ McDermott scored on a wild pitch.

Wyoming Area responded with three runs in the bottom of the third, with Tom Carlin’s RBI triple being the only hit of the inning for the Warriors. An error with two outs allowed two runs to cross the plate.

Wyoming Area 8, Holy Redeemer 7

Holy Savior`AB`R`H`BI

Kopec cf`3`1`0`0

Cisney lf-p`3`1`1`0

Quaglia ss`1`3`1`0

Gordon1b`4`0`1`3

Stevenson c`4`0`1`0

McDermott rf`2`1`0`0

Schultz 3b-p`3`0`0`1

Hendrzak dh`2`0`0`0

Mazzarella p`0`0`0`0

Hurst 2b`2`0`0`0

Totals`25`7`4`4

Wyoming Territory`AB`R`H`BI

Snyder cf-p`3`2`1`0

Ma.Rusinchak lf-cf`3`1`1`0

Fath 2b`2`3`2`0

Smith dh`1`0`0`1

Jatsko 3b`0`0`0`0

Nobody ss`3`1`1`1

Layland c`3`0`0`2

Speicher 1b`3`1`0`1

Carlijn p`3`0`2`1

Donati lf`1`0`0`0

Rogish lf`0`0`0`0

Mi.Rusinchak rf`3`0`0`0

Dymond cr`0`0`0`0

Totals`25`8`7`6

Holy Redeemer`104`100`1 — 7

Wyoming area`203`003`x — 8

2B — Quaglia, Cisney. 3B — Carlin.

Holy Savior`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO

Mazzarella`3.0`5`5`2`2`2

Schultz (L)`2.1`2`3`3`2`1

Cisney`0.2`0`0`0`3`2

Wyoming Territory`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO

Carlijn`3`3`5`5`5`1

Snyder (W)`4`1`2`1`3`7