Strong pitching, hitting carry baseball team to sweep

Hopwood, Pa - Solid pitching and timely hitting are usually key ingredients for a successful recipe on the baseball diamond.

The Penn State Fayette baseball team received both Monday night as it earned a much-needed sweep over Penn State Beaver Monday night to end a four-game skid.

Head coach Mike Sikorski spoke about the dominating pitching efforts by Cory Fleming (Monessen, PA/Monessen HS) and Chris Rendulic (Port Vue, PA/South Allegheny HS), who both pitched complete games.

Fleming struck out six batters and scattered five hits over seven innings in the opener while Rendulic limited Beaver to one run on six hits while striking out eight to finish off the sweep.

"We had great pitching performances from them," Sikorski said. "Fleming got stronger as the (first) game went on and it was as gutsy as I have seen him.

"Redulic was also dominant as he was throwing harder and kept hitters off-balance all night."

In the opener, Fayette (4-5 overall, 4-4 PSUAC) picked up a 3-2 come from behind win.  It scored all four of its runs in the fourth inning and Fleming did his part in shutting down Beaver (2-7, 0-7) the rest of the way.

"Errors cost us in the first game but (Fleming) gave us a chance to win," Sikorski said. "It was nice to see us battle back and finish the game for a big win."

Down 2-0 in the fourth, Kaleb Scott (Uniontown, PA/Laurel Highlands HS) and TJ Lux (West Newton, PA/Yough HS) singled to lead off the inning.  Nate Zimcosky (Uniontown, PA/Laurel Highlands HS) followed by reaching base on a Beaver error, and the miscue brought in both Scott and Lux to tie the game.

After Beaver turned a double play, Cade Warrick (Mill Run, PA/Connellsville HS) singled in Zimcosky with the winning run.

Fleming limited Beaver to one hit the rest of the way to finish off the complete game.  

Scott and Kade Musgrove (Connellsville, PA/Connellsville HS) led Fayette with two singles each with Zimcosky having Fayette's lone extra base hit when he tripled in the sixth.

Justyn Francona and Yoger Rosario Perdomo both had two hits for Beaver as the former had a single and a double while the latter had two in the doubles and scored both runs for the guests.

In the nightcap, Fayette pounded out 13 hits in its 12-1 five-inning win.

"It was great to see the team finally break out and start hitting again," Sikorski said. "We had several players with big nights."

Zimcosky finished with three hits in as many plate appearances, including two doubles, while Andrew Despot (Moon, PA/Moon HS), Gibson and Musgrave each had two hits.  Despot had a three-run home run, Gibson drove in four runs and Musgrave had a triple.

With the game scoreless in the second, Fayette took a 2-0 lead and did not look back.

Zimcosky doubled and after advancing to third on an error, he scored on a groundout by Nik Gibson (Uniontown, PA/Uniontown HS).  Warrick followed with a two-out single and he scored on a Kade Musgrove (Connellsville, PA/Connellsville HS). 

After Beaver cut its deficit in half in the third, Fayette scored four runs on two hits and took advantage of a pair of Beaver errors to take a 6-1 lead into the fifth.  Gibson had the big hit of the inning when he drove in Fleming and Zimcosky with an RBI single before Fayette added a pair of unearned runs.

Fayette put the game out of reach in the fourth as it scored six runs on seven hits.  Hansen and Gibson had RBI singles in the inning and Warrick produced a run on a sacrifice fly.  Despot closed out the scoring with a three-run home run to make the score 12-1.

Kyle Ridley (Dunbar, PA/Connellsville HS) had a double for Fayette.

Rendulic went the distance for Fayette as he limited Beaver to one run on six hits while striking out eight.

Fayette is back in action tonight as it faces Penn State DuBois (7-2, 4-2) at Wild Thing Park in Washington (PA).

For more on the Penn State Fayette baseball team, go to https://www.psfathletics.com/sports/bsb/index.