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May 2—PLAINS TWP. — Hazleton Area was able to jump out quickly against one of the Wyoming Valley Conference's top pitchers and keep its chances for a sixth consecutive division title alive.
The Cougars scored four runs in the first inning, led by seven going into the sixth and finished with a 10-4 victory over Wilkes-Barre Area in a Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 baseball game.
Hazleton Area (9-2 Div. 1, 11-4 overall) is the only team which can catch Pittston Area (11-0 Div. 1, 17-0) as the regular season wraps up next week. The two teams play at Pittston Area on Monday weather permitting.
The Cougars had the task of solving WBA ace James Bottger, who entered the game averaging over two strikeouts per inning. Nick Ledger put the first piece in place with a two-run single in the first. Dom Marino later tripled Ledger home and eventually scored on an error.
An RBI single by Ryan Racho scored two more for Hazleton Area in the second, with Chris Knelly scoring on the hit and Logan Hearity crossing the plate on an error on the play.
Back on April 21, Hazleton Area scored just four runs against Bottger in 5.1 innings in a 6-4 win.
"He was pretty dominant," Hazleton Area coach Russ Canzler said. "He kept our bats at bay and it wasn't until the sixth inning to really manufacture some things, so I was really pleased with how we came out, swung the bats and had the approach.
"That's always a good sign against him. I think he's one of the best arms in the conference."
Knelly hit an RBI single in the fourth and Ledger plated a run with a sacrifice fly in the sixth for an 8-0 lead.
WBA finally broke through in the sixth with four runs. Jake Howe had an RBI double, and he and Bottger later scored on wild pitches. An error on Koleton Davies' single allowed the final run as the Wolfpack cut the deficit in half.
Prior to the sixth, WBA's only hit was a single by Jacob Chupka in the second inning.
"We didn't hit the ball," WBA coach Matt Skrepenak said. "Offensively, we weren't at our best and defensively we threw the ball around a little bit. We walked a few batters."
Hazleton Area, though, came right back with two runs in the seventh. Bryant Diaz crushed an RBI triple into the left-center gap and scored when AJ Collevechio following with a groundout.
WBA (7-4 Div. 1, 10-7) will now set its sights on seeding in the District 2/4 Class 6A tournament. The Wolfpack is currently in fourth, but within reach of the second seed. The top-two seeds gets byes into the semifinals.
Hazleton Area 10, Wilkes-Barre Area 4
Haz. Area'AB'R'H'BI
Hearity 2b'2'2'0'0
Racho 1b'4'1'2'2
Ledger c'3'0'1'3
Schmidt cr'0'1'0'0
Higgins lf'4'0'0'0
Perkosky lf'0'0'0'0
Festa cf'3'1'0'0
Gil Pena ph'0'0'0'0
Marino dh'3'2'1'1
Peters p'0'0'0'0
Diaz 3b'3'1'2'1
Collevechio rf'4'0'0'1
Pecora rf'0'0'0'0
Knelly ss'3'2'2'1
Totals'29'10'8'9
W-B Area'AB'R'H'BI
Hufford 2b'4'0'1'0
Flowers c'4'1'0'0
Bottger p'1'1'0'0
Howe ss'3'1'1'1
Jerez rf'2'1'0'0
Daugherty 1b'0'0'0'0
Chupka lf'3'0'1'0
Davies cf'3'0'1'1
Fritz lf'2'0'0'0
Gregor 3b'2'0'0'0
Tarreto p'1'0'0'0
Totals'25'4'4'2
Hazleton Area'421'001'2 — 10
Wilkes-Barre Area'000'004'0 — 4
2B — Howe. 3B — Marino, Diaz.
Hazleton Area'IP'H'R'ER'BB'SO
Peters'3.1'1'0'0'0'6
Esposito (W)'2.1'3'4'4'4'5
Collevechio'1.1'0'0'0'0'3
W-B Area'IP'H'R'ER'BB'SO
Bottger (L)'3'6'7'6'3'3
Hufford'3'1'1'0'1'5
Tarreto'1'1'2'2'0'1
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The Cougars scored four runs in the first inning, led by seven going into the sixth and finished with a 10-4 victory over Wilkes-Barre Area in a Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 baseball game.
Hazleton Area (9-2 Div. 1, 11-4 overall) is the only team which can catch Pittston Area (11-0 Div. 1, 17-0) as the regular season wraps up next week. The two teams play at Pittston Area on Monday weather permitting.
The Cougars had the task of solving WBA ace James Bottger, who entered the game averaging over two strikeouts per inning. Nick Ledger put the first piece in place with a two-run single in the first. Dom Marino later tripled Ledger home and eventually scored on an error.
An RBI single by Ryan Racho scored two more for Hazleton Area in the second, with Chris Knelly scoring on the hit and Logan Hearity crossing the plate on an error on the play.
Back on April 21, Hazleton Area scored just four runs against Bottger in 5.1 innings in a 6-4 win.
"He was pretty dominant," Hazleton Area coach Russ Canzler said. "He kept our bats at bay and it wasn't until the sixth inning to really manufacture some things, so I was really pleased with how we came out, swung the bats and had the approach.
"That's always a good sign against him. I think he's one of the best arms in the conference."
Knelly hit an RBI single in the fourth and Ledger plated a run with a sacrifice fly in the sixth for an 8-0 lead.
WBA finally broke through in the sixth with four runs. Jake Howe had an RBI double, and he and Bottger later scored on wild pitches. An error on Koleton Davies' single allowed the final run as the Wolfpack cut the deficit in half.
Prior to the sixth, WBA's only hit was a single by Jacob Chupka in the second inning.
"We didn't hit the ball," WBA coach Matt Skrepenak said. "Offensively, we weren't at our best and defensively we threw the ball around a little bit. We walked a few batters."
Hazleton Area, though, came right back with two runs in the seventh. Bryant Diaz crushed an RBI triple into the left-center gap and scored when AJ Collevechio following with a groundout.
WBA (7-4 Div. 1, 10-7) will now set its sights on seeding in the District 2/4 Class 6A tournament. The Wolfpack is currently in fourth, but within reach of the second seed. The top-two seeds gets byes into the semifinals.
Hazleton Area 10, Wilkes-Barre Area 4
Haz. Area'AB'R'H'BI
Hearity 2b'2'2'0'0
Racho 1b'4'1'2'2
Ledger c'3'0'1'3
Schmidt cr'0'1'0'0
Higgins lf'4'0'0'0
Perkosky lf'0'0'0'0
Festa cf'3'1'0'0
Gil Pena ph'0'0'0'0
Marino dh'3'2'1'1
Peters p'0'0'0'0
Diaz 3b'3'1'2'1
Collevechio rf'4'0'0'1
Pecora rf'0'0'0'0
Knelly ss'3'2'2'1
Totals'29'10'8'9
W-B Area'AB'R'H'BI
Hufford 2b'4'0'1'0
Flowers c'4'1'0'0
Bottger p'1'1'0'0
Howe ss'3'1'1'1
Jerez rf'2'1'0'0
Daugherty 1b'0'0'0'0
Chupka lf'3'0'1'0
Davies cf'3'0'1'1
Fritz lf'2'0'0'0
Gregor 3b'2'0'0'0
Tarreto p'1'0'0'0
Totals'25'4'4'2
Hazleton Area'421'001'2 — 10
Wilkes-Barre Area'000'004'0 — 4
2B — Howe. 3B — Marino, Diaz.
Hazleton Area'IP'H'R'ER'BB'SO
Peters'3.1'1'0'0'0'6
Esposito (W)'2.1'3'4'4'4'5
Collevechio'1.1'0'0'0'0'3
W-B Area'IP'H'R'ER'BB'SO
Bottger (L)'3'6'7'6'3'3
Hufford'3'1'1'0'1'5
Tarreto'1'1'2'2'0'1
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