Big first inning lifts Holy Redeemer over Nanticoke

Apr. 14—NANTICOKE — By the time the top of the first inning ended, Nanticoke Area manager Joe Yudicak found himself trying to win a baseball game Tuesday afternoon and not trying to lose another one today.

Holy Redeemer scored five times in the top of the first inning, and Yudicak was walking the fine line with his pitching staff staying in the game, knowing his Trojans will be playing Lake-Lehman today.

Even though Yudicak will have at least three quality arms ready for today, the Royals remained unbeaten with a 6-2 win at Nanticoke Area in a Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 game.

"You have to have that in mind," Yudicak said of the way he worked his pitching staff. "I thought we coached that well. We kept them under their limit and we stayed in the game. That one run we gave up late hurt our momentum."

Holy Redeemer stayed undefeated on the season at 5-0 overall and 3-0 in Division 2. Nanticoke Area is 4-2 and 1-1.

Holy Redeemer starter Nate Dudeck pitched six solid innings, scattering six hits and striking out six. He moved to 2-0 on the season and lowered his ERA to 0.70. Dudeck was the benefit of some hot Redeemer bats to start the game against Nanticoke Area's Derek Cease.

The Royals sent nine batters to the plate in the first, scoring five times. Luke Kopec delivered a two-run single, while Colin Wills and Cameron Krugel each drove in runs. The Royals also scored on a wild pitch.

"The first inning was encouraging," Holy Redeemer manager Chris Ritsick said. "We had some great at-bats and some disciplined at-bats. We took some walks. Kopec's two-run single was huge. That set the tone for the day."

Dudeck was solid throughout and kept the Nanticoke Area hitters off balance.

The Royals turned a pair of double plays, one to end the second inning and another when they ran into the final out after a Luke Myers sacrifice fly scored their first run of the game in the third.

Five times, Dudeck induced a ground ball where the Redeemer infield was able to get the lead runner out.

"For this early in the season, he came out and pounded the zone," Ritsick said. "Obviously, it was nice to come in the first with a five-run lead. It was a great performance. He's a big kid and he gets ground balls. As long as we can field them he is going to have success."

Nanticoke Area cut the Holy Redeemer lead to 5-2 in the fourth when Cease scored on a Justin Spencer single to left.

Holy Redeemer added an insurance run in the sixth when Colin Wills singled and scored on a Dudeck base hit.

"Dudeck pitched a heck of a game," Yudichak said. "I haven't seen my players swing at balls as they did so much today. You take the first inning away, you don't know what happens. That's baseball. Our goal was to have Cease go the distance, but the first inning squashed that.

"We coached to win. If cut the lead to one or two, Spencer and (Nick) Matson would have seen a lot more time. You play to win the game today."

Holy Redeemer Nanticoke Area

ab r h bi ab r h bi

Dudeck p 3 0 1 1 Myers ss/p 2 0 1 1

Griffin cf 4 1 1 0 Krupinski 3b 3 0 0 0

Krugel c 4 1 2 1 Cease p/p 3 1 2 0

Austra dh 3 1 0 0 Matson cf/p 3 0 0 0

Hoedl 1b 0 0 0 0 Spencer dh/p 3 0 2 1

Martin ss 2 1 0 0 Reakes 2b 0 0 0 0

Wills rf 3 2 1 1 Sura lf 3 0 0 0

Elmes lf 3 0 0 0 Brown rf 2 1 0 0

English ph 0 0 0 0 Bielecki ph 1 0 0 0

Kopec 3b 3 0 1 2 Egenski c 2 0 1 0

DeMauro 2b 2 0 0 0 Piestrak 1b 3 0 0 0

Miller ph 0 0 0 0

Totals 27 6 6 5 Totals 25 2 6 2

Holy Redeemer 500 001 0 — 6

Nanticoke Area 001 100 0 — 2

Holy Redeemer IP H R ER BB SO

Dudeck, WP 6 6 2 1 1 6

Hoedl 1 0 0 0 2 2

Nanticoke Area IP H R ER BB SO

Cease, LP 4 5 5 5 3 5

Spencer 1.2 1 1 1 0 3

Matson 1 1 0 0 2 2

Myers .1 0 0 0 1 0

Records: HR 5-0; NAN 4-2

Pittston Area 5, Crestwood 4

At Hughestown, Pittston Area pushed across two runs in the bottom of the seventh to break a 3-3 tie and win its first game of the season.

Eric Pisak pitched one inning of relief to get the win. Anthony Cencetti had two hits for the Patriots, while Nicholas Cerrasaro and Matt Johnson each drove in a run.

Adam Litchkofski had three hits for Crestwood. Nick Kruezer had two RBIs.

Crestwood Pittston Area

ab r h bi ab r h bi

Schwartz cf 4 0 1 0 Cawley ss 4 1 1 0

Litchkofski p 4 0 3 0 Markert 1b 4 0 0 0

Dean 3b 1 1 0 0 Cencetti 3b 3 1 2 0

Covelens dh 4 0 0 0 Menendez dh 3 1 1 0

Shaw 1b 2 0 0 0 Pisano rf 3 1 1 0

Moratori ph 2 1 0 0 Cerrasaro lf 3 1 1 1

Kruezer rf 4 2 1 2 Sciandra 2b 2 0 1 0

Petrosky lf 4 0 1 1 Connors c 3 0 1 0

Arnold c 2 0 1 1 Johnson cf 3 0 1 1

Makowski 2b 3 0 0 0 Felinski p 0 0 0 0

Dean p 0 0 0 0 Pisack p 0 0 0 0

Bukowski ss 0 0 0 0

Totals 30 4 7 4 Totals 28 5 9 2

Crestwood 010 030 0 — 4

Pittston Area 000 300 2 — 5

2B: Nico Schwartz (Crest), Adam Litchkofski (Crest). 3B: Nicholas Kruezer (Crest).

Crestwood IP H R ER BB SO

Litchkofski 5.1 6 3 0 1 7

Dean, LP 1 3 2 2 1 2

Pittston Area IP H R ER BB SO

Felinski 6 7 4 3 4 5

Pisack, WP 1 0 0 0 0 1

Records: PA 1-2; CRE 0-5

Valley West 3, Berwick 1

At Berwick, playing its first game since March 30 and being put on pause due to COVID-19 concerns, Valley West picked up its third straight win.

Mason Matello tossed a complete-game three-hitter with five strikeouts to get his second win of the season. Matello pitched around four walks. Garrett Vought had three hits and drove in a run, while Aaron Klosko had a single and scored a run.

Teagan Shortlidge hit his first home run of the season for Berwick. Kevin Powers and Brayden Boone each had a single.

Valley West Berwick

ab r h bi ab r h bi

Vought lf 4 1 3 1 Dacier ss 2 0 0 0

Lopuhovsky 2b 3 0 1 0 Boone 2b 2 0 1 0

Sgarlat 3b 3 0 0 0 Cleaver lf 3 0 0 0

Sgarlat 1b 4 0 0 0 Lopez rf 3 0 0 0

Klosko dh 3 1 1 0 Sterner rf 0 0 0 0

Matello p 0 0 0 0 Strish rf 0 0 0 0

Gill c 3 0 1 0 Anderson 1b 3 0 0 0

Kolesar rf 2 1 0 0 Shortlidge 3b 2 1 1 1

Stevens cf 1 0 0 1 Powers cf 3 0 1 0

Michak ss 2 0 0 0 Evensen c 2 0 0 0

Campbell ph 1 0 0 0

Shaffer p 2 0 0 0

Taylor p 0 0 0 0

Totals 25 3 6 2 Totals 23 1 3 1

Valley West 020 010 0 — 3

Berwick 000 100 0 — 1

2B: Brian Gill (WVW), Max Lopuhovsky (WVW), Aaron Klosko (WVW). HR: Teagan Shortlidge (Ber).

Valley West IP H R ER BB SO

Matello, WP 7 3 1 1 4 5

Berwick IP H R ER BB SO

Shaffer, LP 4.2 5 3 2 6 4

Taylor 2.1 1 0 0 1 2

Records: WVW 3-1; BER 1-3

Dallas 7, Wilkes-Barre Area 1

At Dallas, Chris Killian continued his hot start to the plate with three hits including a double and triple and drove in four runs, and Ryan Collins drove in three runs to give him nine on the season to lead Dallas.

Gary Weaver pitched five innings to get the win. He struck out six and worked around four walks.

Pedro Betancourt led Wilkes-Barre Area with two hits. Braedon Cook scored Wilkes-Barre Area's only run.

Wilkes-Barre Area Dallas

ab r h bi ab r h bi

Betancourt ss 4 0 2 1 Paczewski ss/p 3 2 1 0

Simko lf 0 0 0 0 Lewis 2b 2 2 1 1

Clarke dh 3 0 0 0 Luksic c 2 2 0 0

Prudente 2b 3 0 1 0 Killian rf/p 4 1 4 3

Novakowski 1b 2 0 0 0 Timinski lf 0 0 0 0

Bottger 3b 2 0 0 0 Collins cf 3 0 1 3

Serafin ph 1 0 0 0 Burgess 3b 2 0 0 0

Monahan c 3 0 0 0 Healey 3b 1 0 0 0

Mihalchik p 1 0 1 0 Adamski 3b 1 0 0 0

Gilgallon p 1 0 0 0 Pokrinchak lf 0 0 0 0

Sanchez cf 1 0 0 0 Shaver ss 0 0 0 0

Cook cf 2 1 0 0 Weaver p 0 0 0 0

Rodriguez rf 2 0 0 0 Peters dh 3 0 1 0

Lisman pr 0 0 0 0

Ropietski lf 2 0 0 0

Peters rf 1 0 1 0

Conrad 1b 2 0 0 0

Leandri 1b 1 0 0 0

Totals 25 1 4 1 Totals 27 7 9 7

Wilkes-Barre Area 000 010 0 — 1

Dallas 211 201 x — 7

2B: Chris Killian (Dal). 3B: Cooper Lewis (Dal), Chris Killian (Dal).

Wilkes-Barre Area IP H R ER BB SO

Mihalchik, LP 4 6 6 6 2 3

Gilgallon 2 3 1 1 1 0

Dallas IP H R ER BB SO

Weaver, WP 5 2 1 0 4 6

Paczewski 1 1 0 0 0 1

Killian 1 1 0 0 0 2

Records: DAL 4-3; WBA 3-3

Hazleton Area 6, Tunkhannock 3

At Tunkhannock, Ryan Verbonitz had two hits and drove in two runs, and Kyle Peters pitched four innings of hitless relief to get the win as Hazleton Area remained undefeated.

Grant Russo had a single and RBI for Hazleton Area. Peters picked up his second win of the season.

Aiden Paddock had a single and two RBIs for Tunkhannock. Shane Wood had a single and drove in a run, while Patrick Munley singled and scored one run.

Hazleton Area Tunkhannock

ab r h bi ab r h bi

Russo cf 4 1 1 1 Kuzma lf 3 0 0 0

Russo lf 4 1 0 0 Munley cf 2 1 1 0

Antolick 2b 4 1 1 0 Sheridan c 2 1 0 0

Verbonitz 1b 3 1 2 2 Wood p 3 1 1 1

Genao pr 0 0 0 0 Paddock ss 3 0 1 2

Payne c 0 0 0 0 Cisek rf 3 0 0 0

Diaz dh 3 0 0 0 DeMarco 2b 0 0 0 0

Molinaro ss 3 0 0 0 Roxby p 0 0 0 0

Kilker 3b 4 1 0 0 Gavek dh 3 0 0 0

Biasi 3b 0 0 0 0 Baltrusaitis 1b 3 0 0 0

Shamany p 0 0 0 0 Brown 3b 3 0 1 0

Peters p 3 0 0 0

Schell rf 2 1 1 0

Totals 30 6 5 3 Totals 25 3 4 3

Hazleton Area 001 030 2 — 6

Tunkhannock 003 000 0 — 3

2B: Brett Antolick (Haz), Aiden Paddock (Tunk).

Hazleton Area IP H R ER BB SO

Peters, WP 0 0 0 0 3 2

Shamany 3 3 3 3 3 5

Tunkhannock IP H R ER BB SO

Wood, LP 4.2 3 4 0 4 3

Roxby 2.1 2 2 1 0 2

Records: HA 6-0; TUN 1-4

Contact the writer: sbennett@citizensvoice.com; 570 821-2062; @CVSteveBennett