DALLAS — Greater Pittston Area had to tweak a few things because of Friday’s rainout but still received the desired result Saturday afternoon.
GPA banged out 14 hits, scored in all but one inning and had a trio of pitchers keep Lakeland in check for an 11-1 five-inning victory in a Section 5 Little League Major Baseball opening-round game at Back Mountain Little League.
GPA will play Back Mountain National at 5 p.m. Sunday in the winners bracket final at Back Mountain. Lakeland and Abington will play in an elimination game at 3 p.m.
Both teams were at the field Friday night when thunderstorms chased them to their vehicles and eventually home.
“We came in with a plan with our pitching coming in because of the rainout yesterday,” GPA manager Joe Rusincovitch said. “We wanted to do a couple things today and for the most part we were able to execute that. We still have everybody available tomorrow that we wanted to have available going in against a very good Back Mountain team.
“We have a whole bunch of stuff to clean up for tomorrow.”
There were a few errors early and some baserunning miscues that will be addressed. There was nothing wrong with the hitting and pitching.
GPA had five singles in the second inning to score three runs and build its lead to 5-0. Kelln Kroski and Gavin Wardecki drove in runs with their hits.
The fourth inning featured consecutive doubles by Ethan Aftewicz, Wardecki and Jacoby Harnen. Those two-baggers were followed an out later by a RBI single by John Jadus for a 9-1 lead.
GPA scored two more runs in the fifth. Wardecki doubled in a run and Aftewicz scored when Lakeland committed its eighth error of the game.
Harnen, Kroski and Nick Innamorati combined for eight strikeouts and limited Lakeland to five hits, none after the second inning. Kroski fanned five of the six batters he faced.
SECTION 5 9-11 BASEBALL
GPA 9, Wayne Highlands 7
Greater Pittston Area advanced to the winners bracket finals with a victory over Wayne Highlands in a game that was suspended Friday because of thunderstorms.
GPA will play Back Mountain National at 1 p.m. Sunday at Back Mountain Little League in the winners bracket finals. Wayne Highlands plays Valley View Gold at 11 a.m. in an elimination game.
Wayne Highlands led 1-0 after the top of the first when the game was suspended. GPA wasted no time Saturday taking control.
David Homschek and Gavin Gisolfi hit RBI singles and Josh Chaump added an RBI double as GPA took a 3-1 lead after one inning. Jack Bernardi had an RBI single and an error on Homschek’s flyball plated two more runs as GPA boosted its lead to 6-1 after two innings.
GPA added three more runs in the fourth, with CJ Stevenson hitting an RBI double and Homschek hitting a sac fly. The other run scored on a wild pitch.
Wayne Highlands had one hit through four innings, but got the bats going in the fifth and scored three times. A sixth-inning rally where Wayne Highlands scored two on bases-loaded walks was cut short when reliever Jack Bernardi struck out the final batter to end the game.
Section 5 Major Baseball
Greater Pittston Area 11, Lakeland 1 (5 inn.)
GPA`AB`R`H`BI
Innamorati ss`4`3`3`0
Kroski c`4`1`1`1
Aftewicz 2b`3`4`3`1
Wardecki 1b`4`1`2`3
Harnen p`3`1`2`1
Rusincovitch rf`3`0`0`0
Opiela ph`1`0`0`0
Jadus cf`2`0`1`1
Scagliotti ph`1`0`0`0
Tonte lf`1`0`0`0
Rosencrance ph`2`0`0`0
Gordon 3b`2`1`1`0
Schardien ph`1`0`0`0
Totals`30`11`14`6
Lakeland`AB`R`H`BI
Finegan 2b`1`0`0`0
Pochas ph`2`0`1`0
Lozinski c`2`0`0`0
Janoski ph`1`0`0`0
Nepa p`2`0`0`0
Magnot 1b`2`0`1`0
McGrane ss`2`0`0`0
Sokoloski cf`2`0`1`0
Baberski 3b`1`1`1`0
Malak p`1`0`0`0
Stephens rf`1`0`0`0
Loomis ph`1`0`0`0
Telep lf`1`0`1`1
McFarland lf`1`0`0`0
Totals`20`1`5`1
Greater Pittston Area`230`42 — 11
Lakeland`010`00 — 1
2B — Innamorati, Aftewicz, Wardecki 2, Harnen.
GPA`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Harnen (W)`2`5`1`1`0`1
Kroski`2`0`0`0`0`5
Innamorati`1`0`0`0`0`2
Lakeland`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Nepa (L)`2.2`7`5`3`1`3
Babersky`1.1`6`5`5`0`1
Malak`0.2`1`1`1`1`1
Section 5 9-11 Baseball
Greater Pittston Area 9, Wayne Highlands 7
Wayne Highlands`AB`R`H`BI
Tirney cf`3`3`1`0
McElroy 1b`3`1`1`0
Flynn c`4`1`0`0
White 3b`3`0`0`2
Maciejewski ss`4`0`2`1
Eisele 2b`1`0`0`1
Scanlon rf`0`0`0`0
Montgomery rf`2`0`0`0
Marks rf`2`0`0`0
LaBruno lf`2`1`0`0
Pender p`2`1`0`0
Totals`26`7`4`4
GPA`AB`R`H`BI
Stevenson cf`1`3`1`1
Bernardi ss`3`1`1`1
Homschek 2b`2`1`1`2
Gisofi 1b`2`1`1`1
Borino ph`0`0`0`0
Timms c`2`0`0`0
Shovlin ph`1`0`0`0
Chaump 3b`2`0`1`1
Cerasaro rf`2`0`0`0
Wolf rf`1`0`0`0
Salvo p`3`2`2`0
Dommes lf`1`0`0`0
Silinskie lf`0`1`0`0
Totals`20`9`7`6
Wayne Highlands`100`033 — 7
Greater Pittston Area`330`30x — 9
2B — Stevenson, Chaump.
Wayne High`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Pender (L)`4`7`9`7`2`2
Flynn`1`0`0`0`0`0
GPA`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Salvo (W)`4.0`2`3`0`2`8
Homschek`1.1`1`3`1`2`3
Chaump`0.0`1`1`0`1`0
Bernardi (S)`0.2`0`0`0`1`1
