It was a situation that screamed small ball. Instead, Pine-Richland played long ball.
With the score tied in the top of the eighth inning and with a runner at first base and no outs, Rams junior Austin Cwynar smacked a two-run homer over the right-center fence as Pine-Richland came back to beat Fox Chapel, 6-4.
The win puts the Rams alone in first place in Section 3-5A.
“This was fun,” Pine-Richland coach Kurt Wolfe said. “We were giving them a lot early with some errors and some walks, so we just told them to settle down. The way these boys overcame was huge. We found a way to scratch and claw and put ourselves in a position to win the game.”
The start of the game was perfect for Pine-Richland as it struck first on the road facing West Virginia commit Blake Krushinski.
With two out and Logan Plummer at first base after hitting into a fielder’s choice, Rams senior catcher Ben Husted cracked his third home run of the season over the right-center fence to make it 2-0.
Fox Chapel answered with a run in the first inning on a Milan Fluhme infield chopper that eluded the pitcher and second baseman and scored Nick Seifried.
The Foxes tied the score in the second inning on a two-out single by Kent State commit Tristan Blum that plated Tyler Golembiewski.
Two-out lightning helped Fox Chapel take the lead in the third inning when Pine-Richland starter Carson King walked Joey Geller, then Foxes junior catcher Elias George doubled home the go-ahead run and George scored on a base hit to right field by Jaxson Lapiana to make the score 4-2.
It stayed that way until the fifth inning when, with one out, Kyler Bell and Plummer hit back-to-back doubles to cut the deficit to one run. After Husted was walked intentionally and a double steal put runners at second and third, Joe Kamenicky hit into a fielder’s choice with shortstop Fluhme throwing to third base to retire courtesy runner Will Franchak while Plummer scored the tying run.
Krushinski pitched six innings for Fox Chapel, yielding four earned runs on six hits with three walks, a hit batter and six strikeouts.
“I thought Blake pitched really well for us,” Fox Chapel coach Jim Hastings said. “He made one mistake in the first inning, but, other than that, he was pretty dominant throughout the game.
Joey Gallar replaced Krushinski on the mound, and, after retiring the Rams in order in the top of the seventh inning, he gave up a leadoff walk to Kamenicky in the eighth inning.
Cwynar would not square around to bunt, instead crushing the first pitch he saw over the fence to put Pine-Richland back up 6-4.
“We never even thought about bunting,” Wolfe said of the situation before the winning homer. “I’m blessed to be able to be with a group of young men that refuse to lose. We’re still figuring them out, too, because this is a brand new team with a lot of new faces in different positions.”
Fox Chapel got a two-out double by Lapiana in the bottom of the eighth before Michael Malady sealed the victory by inducing a groundout to third base by Golembiewski.
Malady picked up the win, pitching two innings in relief of King and sophomore Drew Buttenfield, allowing no runs on two hits with three strikeouts.
The loss drops the Foxes to 3-3 and ends a three-game winning streak. They are 2-1 in Section 3-5A.
“It’s definitely a tough loss for us, but especially when we had chances,” Hastings said. “We’ll bounce back. All section games are big, especially if you lose that first one.”
Pine-Richland has won four in a row and is 3-0 in the section and 4-1 overall.
The Rams host the Foxes on Tuesday afternoon.