Lower Burrell American Legion stays hot, blanks Hempfield East

The Lower Burrell American Legion baseball team picked a great time to get hot.

Lower Burrell knocked off the top team in the District 31 standings for the second consecutive day.

On Monday it was Latrobe (11-4), and Tuesday it was Hempfield East (11-4-1).

Jake Smith tossed an eight-hit shutout, and Lower Burrell (7-7-1) defeated Hempfield East, 4-0, at Seton Hill. Smith struck out eight and walked two.

Lower Burrell has won three consecutive games as it ascends the standings.

“I feel great for the players,” Lower Burrell coach Steve Scheftic said. “They have worked hard all season. They do everything we ask them to do.

“We went through a short spell where things just did not go our way. But that is baseball sometimes. We knew from the beginning that we put together a team that had the potential to be a special team.”

The game was scoreless until the fourth inning when Lower Burrell got a break.

With one out, Smith drew a walk. Dom Hand then crushed a potential double-play ball toward second baseman Lucas Demchak.

But the ball never got to Demchak, hitting the base umpire instead and killing the play.

The result was runners on first and second instead of a potential inning-ending double play.

Ryan Bates followed with a bunt single, and Nolan Brouwer walked to score Smith for a 1-0 lead. Noah Matson drove in the second run with a sacrifice fly, and Bates scored the third run on a wild pitch.

“We have been able to produce the runs,” Scheftic said. “We talk to the team all the time about hitting as many balls as hard as you can. Some of the balls we hit were outs.”

Lower Burrell tacked on a fourth run in the fifth inning on a passed ball that followed a single by Jon Walker and a double by Adam Scheftic.

Hempfield East had its chances. It collected nine hits but stranded 10 runners.

It was missing five starters, who were on vacation.

“We had too many unforced errors, and we did not get timely hits,” Hempfield East coach Bill Carrera said. “This was not East baseball. We let them dictate the game.

“Even though we were missing players, our motto is the next man up. We have a deep team and expect all our guys to give 100% regardless of if they are a starter or not.”

Dom Rosensteel had three hits for East, and Demchak and Ty Davis had two hits each.

Hempfield East loaded the bases in the seventh inning, but Smith got Max Bowlin to ground out to end the game.

Dane Willis was a tough-luck loser. He allowed only three hits, struck out eight and walked four.

Lower Burrell will try to continue its streak Wednesday against Unity at Pitt-Greensburg.

It plays Thursday at Young Township and closes the season Saturday at Bushy Run.

Hempfield East is off until Saturday when it plays a doubleheader at Young Township.

Carrera said he expected to have all his players back for the weekend.