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THROOP — Pat Adamski excelled on the mound and Swoyersville got production from players up and down its lineup.
Those two things added up to a 5-0 win over Abington in the opening game of the double-elimination American Legion Region 5 Tournament for both teams at Joseph F. Merva Field at Washington Street Park.
Swoyersville will play Berwick at noon at Washington Street Park in a winner’s bracket game.
Adamski allowed singles to Abington’s Dan Habeeb, who had three hits, and Ryan Burke, but got a strikeout and pop out to work out of the early jam and keep Abington off the board.
“We just can’t seem to string together a number of hits in a row to score some runs,” Abington manager Vincent Vaccaro said.
Swoyersville’s Steve Banas delivered a big blow in the top of the second with a two-run triple to the gap in right-center field after singles by Dom Bayo and Mike Kane.
“I tell our guys every tournament you go into, in order for us to move on to a regional or state tournament, there is one guy who is really going to have to step up,” Swoyersville manager Sean Toole said. “Today, it was Steve Banas with the big triple in the right-center gap to get us going.
“It was a little bit of a slow start, but we got some timely hits.”
Abington threatened again in the third when Habeeb and T.J. Lacey got on base with one-out singles, but Adamski got the next two batters to ground into a fielder’s choice.
“Pat did a great job today,” Toole said. “He kind of had the baseball game under control and he did what he’s done all year. He threw first-pitch strikes, stayed ahead in counts, and our defense played well behind them.”
Bayo slammed a double off the wall in left-center field in the top of the fourth, but was left stranded at third.
Swoyersville added a run in the top of the fifth inning when Zach Sott doubled and scored on an error.
Habeeb singled in the bottom of the fifth for Abington, but was thrown out while attempting to score on a double by Lacey to end the inning.
Adamski scattered seven hits over seven inning to earn the complete-game win.
Swoyersville tacked on two more insurance runs in the top of the seventh when Sott doubled and scored, and Jake Packer clubbed a solo home run over the fence in left-center field.
“Between Austin Sienkiewicz and Jake Packer, I like to think we have two of the best hitters in the whole tournament,” Toole said.
Berwick 2, Hazleton 1
Hazleton Stripes & Strikes surrendered a bases-loaded walk to Mark McCracken in the bottom of the sixth leading for the game-winning run as Berwick advanced to Saturday’s semifinal contest at noon against Swoyersville.
McCracken also earned the save for the Susquehanna Valley League champs even though Hazleton got a pair of runners on base in the top of the seventh.
Chris Heim homered for Stripes & Strikes in the fourth inning for the team’s lone run. Hazleton drops into the consolation bracket and will play an elimination game at 3 p.m. today against Abington, which lost to Swoyersville.
Jared Marshman picked up the win for Berwick striking out nine in 6 2/3 innings, while delivering a pair of hits to lead the offense.
Gabriel Colyer took the loss for Stripes & Strikes pitching all six innings and striking out six.
Mountain Post 9, Shamokin/Mount Carmel 6
Justin Darden bookended a pair of homers to lead Mountain Post to the victory.
Darden started the scoring with a two-run shot in the top of the first then hit a go-ahead blast in the top of the seventh as part of a five-run frame.
Nick Vital contributed two hits and two RBI for the Wyoming Valley runner-up, which plays at 3 p.m. Saturday against host team Dickson City, which defeated Bloomsburg 2-1 in Friday’s first round.
Vital also picked up the win in relief of Corey Chalk, who lasted 5 1/3 innings and fanned three. Shamokin/Mount Carmel plays Bloomsburg in an elimination game at noon.
AMERICAN LEGION REGION 5 TOURNAMENT
Swoyersville 5, Abington 0
Swoyersville`AB`R`H`BI
Sott rf `4`2`2`0
Sienkiewicz ss`4`0`0`1
Packer 1b` 4`1`1`1
Ruff cf`4`0`1`0
Federici 2b`3`0`0`0
Bayo lf`3`1`2`0
Adamski p`3`0`0`0
Kane 3b`3`1`1`0
Banas c`2`0`1`0
Totals`31`5`8`4
Abington`AB`R`H`BI
Habeeb lf`3`0`3`0
Lacey p`3`0`2`0
Burke ss/p`3`0`1`0
Vaccaro rf`3`0`0`0
Petty 2b`3`0`0`0
A. Myers 1b`3`0`1`0
Newman c`3`0`0`0
Notari 3b`3`0`0`0
Smith cf`2`0`0`0
O’Malley ss`1`0`0`0
Totals`26`0`7`0
Swoyersville`020`010`2`—`5
Abington`000`000`0` —`0
2B — Sott 2, Bayo, Lacey; 3B — Banas; HR — Packer
Swoyersville `IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Adamski (W) `7.0`7`0`0`1`4
Abington`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Lacey (L) `6.2`7`5`4`0`3
