JOHNSTOWN —
Cernic’s survived a rocky start and went on to earn an 11-7 win over Ebensburg in Cambria County American Legion baseball action Thursday night at Franklin Field.
Ebensburg (5-6) capitalized on a pair of Cernic’s errors to plate three unearned runs in the top of the first and eventually took a 4-0 lead. However, Cernic’s (5-7) battled back to tie the game in the third and went ahead to stay with a huge four-run fourth.
“All we’ve been doing this year is making comebacks,” said Cernic’s manager John Pudliner. “We’ve had trouble getting off to good starts in a lot of games.
“We took advantage of our chances when we had runners on, and we got smart and stopped going for the short fence.”
Cernic’s pounded out 20 hits, led by right fielder Judah Sandak’s 5 for 5 effort. Curtis McClain, Zaine Tomkowski and Brady Hamer each added three hits for Cernic’s.
“We let them off the hook,” said Ebensburg manager Mike Bracken. “We were up 4-0, but we left eight guys on base.
“If we got a couple of them in, it would have been a different ball game,” Bracken said. “You have to give Cernic’s credit, when they needed a hit, they came up with it.”
After a walk and error put runners at second and third for Ebensburg with two outs in the first, Justin Monito lined a two-run single to center. Dylan Bowers reached on another error, and John Grimes followed with a run-scoring single to right that made it 3-0.
Ebensburg added another run in the top of the second. Randy Hodgson led off with a bunt single and later scored on a Jared Bowers single. A walk to Josh Bracken loaded the bases with one out, but Cernic’s starter Chris Horten got out of the jam by fanning Ryan Woo and retiring Monito on a grounder.
Cernic’s got back in the game by scoring three runs after two outs in the bottom of the second.
Horten singled with two outs, the first of five consecutive Cernic’s hits. Hodgson’s double down the left field line drove in Horten with the first Cernic’s run, and Adam Westrick followed with another run-scoring double. Sandak’s single to short left put runners at first and third, and McClain then singled to pull Cernic’s within 4-3.
Cernic’s plated the tying run in the third. Tomkowski led off with a single and came around to score when Horten reached on an error, and Cernic’s continued the momentum into the fourth.
Sandak reached on an infield single with one out, and advanced to second on an error. McClain then singled to put Cernic’s ahead by one. A walk to Joe Hrbal and Tomkowski’s single loaded the bases, but when Jerrell Thorton struck out, McClain scored on a wild pitch. Hamer and Horten followed with consecutive run-scoring singles to make it 8-4.
Dylan Bowers’s groundout pulled Ebensburg within three in the top of the fifth, but Cernic’s answered in the bottom of the frame when Tomkowski’s third hit scored Sendak, and Hamer’s two-out infield single brought in Hrbal to give Cernic’s a 10-5 edge.
Ebensburg put together a rally in the top of the sixth, as two walks and a single loaded the bases with two outs. Woo’s second hit drove in a pair of runs and put the tying run at the plate, but Horten again got out of trouble by retiring Monito on a grounder to end the threat.
Cernic’s added an insurance run in the sixth on Hrbal’s two-out run-scoring single, and McClain came on in relief of Horten and retired Ebensburg in order in the top of the seventh to seal the win.
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Cernic’s rallies past Ebensburg
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