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KINGSTON — Pittston Area accomplished two tasks Friday in its 18-1 victory over Wyoming Valley West in Wyoming Valley Conference baseball.

First, the Patriots kept right behind Hazleton Area in Division 1, although catching the uber-talented Cougars will be quite difficult. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, they stayed in fourth place in the District 2 Class 5A standings. The top four teams get home games and if the Patriots slip out of the position a road trip would await.

Pittston Area (7-1 Div. 1, 8-2 overall) accomplished what was necessary Friday. The Patriots scored nine runs — all unearned — in the first three innings as they took advantage of four Valley West errors and timely two-out hitting.

Drew Menendez’s two-run double and Nick Cerasaro’s RBI single in the first came with two outs. All five runs in the third came with two outs as Anthony Cencetti hit a two-run double as part of his four-RBI game and Drew DeLucca had a two-run single. He also finished with four RBI.

“We played Dallas two days ago and the same thing,” Pittston Area coach Paul Zaffuto said. “We had those runners in scoring position and we weren’t executing. Then in the last inning, it all came together for us and it carried over for us today.”

The Patriots finished off their scoring with a seven-run fifth inning as they sent 13 batters to the plate. They could have scored more, but instead went station-to-station in many situations.

“I do appreciate coach Zafffuto keeping the game under control to the best of his ability,” Valley West coach Ron Musto said. “I recognized him for doing that and it was a classy act on his part.”

A tad obscured in the Pittston Area offensive outburst was the pitching of Eli Mead. Mead threw 5.1 innings and gave up one hit, a single to right by Brian Gill in the first inning. Valley West scored its only run on an RBI single by Chris Campbell in the fifth.

“We still haven’t figured out who our No. 1 guy is,” Zaffuto said. “As of yesterday, we had seven wins and seven different pitchers who had a win. We still don’t know who we’re going to run out there in a playoff game, but our guys are throwing strikes and nobody is overpowering. But our defense is making plays and no hurting us.”

Valley West (2-6, 2-9) is just outside the D2-5A playoff picture in ninth. Eight teams qualify and the ninth could get in with a .500 record, although that option looks tenuous for either the Spartans or eight-place West Scranton.

“Our goal is to get into the playoffs and I believe we can win our first-round game in the playoffs as crazy as that sounds,” Musto said.

Pittston Area 18, Wyo. Valley West 1 (5 inn.)

Pittston Area`AB`R`H`BI

Cawley 2b`4`2`2`1

DeLucca cf`5`0`2`4

Davis dh`4`2`0`0

Mead p`0`0`0`0

Ghannam p`0`0`0`0

Giardina ss`4`2`2`1

Menendez 1b`1`2`1`2

Bonomo ph`1`1`0`0

Cerasaro rf`2`2`2`1

Ranieli ph`1`1`0`1

Innamorati lf`4`1`0`0

Aftewicz c`3`1`1`2

Cencetti 3b`3`4`2`4

Totals`32`18`12`16

WVW`AB`R`H`BI

Lopuhovsky ss`2`0`0`0

Campbell 2b`1`0`1`1

Sgarlat 2b`1`0`0`0

Dubaskas cf`2`0`0`0

Buss 1b`2`0`0`0

Gill c`2`0`1`0

N.Bayo 3b`1`0`0`0

Gorham cf`1`0`0`0

Falcheck 2b`0`0`0`0

Hospodar dh`2`0`0`0

A.Bayo p`0`0`0`0

Klosko p`0`0`0`0

Heidcavage p`0`0`0`0

DelRosa rf`1`1`0`0

Mattello lf`1`0`0`0

Totals`16`1`2`1

Pittston Area`315`7 — 18

Valley West`000`01 — 1

2B — Cawley, Giardina, Menendez, Aftewicz, Cencetti.

Pittston Area`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO

Mead W`4.2`1`1`1`2`5

Ghannam`0.1`1`0`0`0`0

WVW`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO

A.Bayo L`1.1`4`4`0`0`0

Klesko`2`2`6`1`1`1`3

Heidcavage`0.1`2`1`1`2`0

Stitzer`0.1`0`3`2`0`0`

Falcheck`0.2`2`0`0`0`1