BROCKWAY, Pa. (D9Sports) – The Johnsonburg Rams used a clutch seventh-inning single by Ben Ames and a complete-game pitching effort from Justin Kasmierski to defeat the Brockway Rovers, 3-2, at Brockway High School Tuesday afternoon.
(Photo: Tyler Serafini, Brockway. Photo by Cory Geer)
With the game tied at two and one out after a caught stealing, Johnny Mitchell worked a walk ending the day of Brockway reliever Hunter Antonuccio.
Santino Inzana replaced hm, and Mitchell stole second with Ames at the plate. With two strikes on him, Ames line a ball into left-center field to give Johnsonburg a 3-2 lead.
Ames said that he wanted to have a patient at-bat and look for his pitch on the game.
“The strike zone was a little wide today,” Ames said. “I just wanted to wait for my pitch. With two strikes the pitcher left it over the plate, and I drove it into left field.”
Kasmierski, the winning pitcher, went seven innings, giving up two unearned runs and limited the Rovers to just two hits.
“Kasmierski has been throwing well all year,” Johnsonburg head coach Wayne Zilkofski said. “He didn’t throw many pitches today. He was very efficient. Our guys made a lot plays behind him.”
Kasmierski said that he focused on getting ahead of the Rovers hitters by throwing first-pitch strikes and keeping the ball down.
Johnsonburg’s Jacob Anderson. Photo by Cory Geer
Brockway starting pitcher Tyler Serafini matched Kasmierski’s effort going five innings giving up two earned runs and tallying nine strikeouts.
“I really liked the job Serafini did on the mound” Brockway head coach Terry Moore said.
Johnsonburg got on the scoreboard first in the second inning after a leadoff walk issued to Kasmierski and two wild pitches. Second baseman Austin Green singled to give Johnsonburg an early 1-0 lead.
Brockway tied the game up in the bottom of a third after a Serafini walk. He later scored on a throwing error from the catcher to the pitcher.
After a Johnsonburg one-two-three inning, Brockway took the lead in the fourth inning.
Jesse Johnson walked and Matthew Clark singled to put runners on first and second base.
With Andrew Trunzo batting there was some confusion with the count. With the count at 2-and-1 Kasmierski delivered a wild pitch. Trunzo took off for first base thinking that it was ball four, causing confusion for the Johnsonburg Rams.
Johnsonburg catcher Turner Amacher fired the ball over Kasmierski’s head allowing Johnson to score and give the Rovers a 2-1 lead. Trunzo trying to advance from first to third base was thrown out.
Zilkofski said that he thought the runners should have had to return to their original base but was happy that his team worked back into it and only allowed one run that inning.
Johnsonburg tied the game in the sixth.
After two singles from Kasmierski and Josh Raubenstrauch, Serafini was pulled and replaced by Antonuccio, who walked the next two batters to even the score at two.
With Amacher at the plate and the bases load, Zilkofski called for a suicide squeeze that resulted in a double play for Brockway.
“The game was tied, and I had my two seniors, one at the plate and the other on third base,” Zilkofski said. “We got the play down against Bradford last week that won us the game. I went for it there and unfortunately, we had some base running mistakes that got us doubled up.
“That was a big play for us,” said Moore. “We escaped the inning only giving up one run after having the bases loaded with nobody out.”
But Johnsonburg was able to pick up that run in the top of the seventh, and Kasmierski closed out the game with a strikeout and two soft grounders to second baseman Green.
Story by Cory Geer
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