Golden Gillott
Connellsville reliever key in comeback victory over Uniontown
Uniontown was in a good spot Wednesday night against Connellsville in a key Fayette County American Legion baseball game at Hutchinson Field in Hopwood.
The home team had an 8-1 lead and Connellsville just lifted starting pitcher Mason Miller, who had a rare subpar start, for Grayden Gillott.
Gillott didn鈥檛 pitch for the Falcons in the high school season, as Miller and Ethan Porreca were Connellsville鈥檚 top two pitchers, but the right hander showed on Tuesday that he can get the job done after yielding one run on four hits over five innings with four strikeouts and no walks, as Connellsville rallied for a 12-9 victory and improved to 6-0.
鈥淕rayden is a competitor and a winner, and it is surprising he doesn鈥檛 pitch as much as he does,鈥� Connellsville coach Brian Sankovich said. 鈥淗e wants the ball, and there is nobody I trust more in a big-time situation. He has played for me for a long time, and he has always been a winner. They were ready to 10-run us. Mason was hurt and didn鈥檛 throw a good game but that鈥檚 baseball.鈥�
Gillott, who had pitched in legion play this year, didn鈥檛 mix up his pitches in holding down Uniontown (6-2).
Sevi Vecchiolla hit a solo home run to left field in the seventh inning, but Gillott knew all he had to do was get one more out to finish the game.
鈥淚 was mainly throwing my fastball,鈥� Gillott said. 鈥淚 probably threw my curve ball about five percent of the time. I know it is clich茅 to say, but I just had to get one more out, so I didn鈥檛 really think about it too much when he hit that home run. It may hurt the ERA a little bit, but all I鈥檓 concerned about is helping us get the win.鈥�
Connellsville opened the scoring with a run in the first inning when Gillott reached on an error and scored on Alex VanSickle鈥檚 groundout for a 1-0 lead.
Uniontown responded with two runs in the bottom of the first and six in the second for a 8-1 advantage.
Barrett Shuba was hit-by-pitch to lead off the second and advanced to third on Eahn Stevenson鈥檚 double to center field. Shuba scored on Tate Musko鈥檚 groundout to tie the game at 1-1. Stevenson scored on Vecchiolla鈥檚 sacrifice flyout to right field for a 2-1 advantage.
鈥淲e took advantage of their guy (Miller) not having his best day, and they also made some mistakes, but the bats kind of went dead after the second inning,鈥� Uniontown coach Richie Franks said. 鈥淗e (Gillott) came in and threw fantastic. I am not going to take anything away from the kid, but we weren鈥檛 able to scratch another run across. If you scratch another run across in a situation like that, it totally turns the dynamic and momentum of the game.鈥�
Uniontown capitalized on three straight Connellsville errors to extend its lead to 8-1.
鈥淲e haven鈥檛 had three errors in one game, and we had three in one inning tonight,鈥� Sankovich said.
Gillott kept the home team off the scoreboard in the third and fourth innings before Connellsville started its rally with two runs in the fifth.
Jonathan Kelly reached on an error and scored on Gradin Hodge鈥檚 double to left field. Hodge scored on Porreca鈥檚 single to right field to cut the deficit to 8-3.
Connellsville sent 13 batters to the plate in its nine-run sixth inning to take a 12-8 advantage.
鈥淥nce the game got close, we knew we were going to win,鈥� Sankovich said. 鈥淭he kids battled back, and showed a ton of character when we didn鈥檛 play our best at times. I am so proud of these guys.鈥�
Matt Firestone led off the frame with a walk, stole second and scored on Kace Shearer鈥檚 double to left field. Shearer advanced to third on an error.
Noah Zawislan, Kelly and Hodge drew back-to-back-to-back walks. Shearer scored Connellsville鈥檚 fifth run when Hodge walked with the bases loaded.
Zawislan touched home plate on Porreca鈥檚 sacrifice flyout to left field to cut Uniontown鈥檚 lead to 8-6.
Gillott walked before Kelly and Hodge scored to tie the game on VanSickle鈥檚 two-out base hit to left field.
Firestone reached on an error and Gillott scored when Shearer was hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded and Connellsville regained the lead at 9-8.
VanSickle scored what proved to be the winning run on a wild pitch before Firestone and Shearer sprinted for two insurance runs on Zawislan鈥檚 base hit to center field for a 12-8 advantage.
鈥淚t was one bad inning,鈥� Franks said. 鈥淚 told the kids afterwards to not let one bad inning get them down because there is a lot of season left for these kids. I give credit to them. They did the little things that needed to be done, but most of it was self-inflicted.鈥�
Musko doubled and starting pitcher Noah Lion had three hits and an RBI. Lion had a no-decision in yielding six runs (four earned) on five hits over five innings. He walked two batters.
Franks was pleased with his team鈥檚 offensive approach.
鈥淪evi (Vecchiolla) has been squaring the ball up, so it was only a matter of time that he was able to get one squarely on the barrel,鈥� Franks said. 鈥淓ahn Stevenson has hit the ball hard for us, and Noah (Lion) reached three different times on sharp hits to left.
鈥淲e had guys put the ball in play, but unfortunately, later on in the game, when they put the ball in play, they seemed to hit it right at guys but that happens. You have to take the good with the bad.鈥�
Connellsville was coming off a 9-1 triumph over Belle Vernon, but Sankovich didn鈥檛 believe the emotional victory against a team that is projected to be one of the best in the league impacted his players as Uniontown built up a seven-run lead after two innings.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think that had anything to do with the start,鈥� Sankovich said. 鈥淭hey came out and attacked the ball. Our pitcher wasn鈥檛 on today, but we know that teams are going to come after us, so every game is going to be tough.鈥�