Warren fell into a deep hole early on Friday and couldn't dig out of it.
The Dragons fell to General McLane, 11-5, in a key Region 8 game at Old Legion Field.
The Lancers did most of their damage in the second inning. After bad hop single over shortstop that may have been an inning-ending double play, Josh Ponsoll hit a 3-run home run for McLane. By the time the Dragons escaped the inning, they trailed 8-0.
Article Photos
Photo by Carl Leichtenberger
Fielding the position
Youngsville’s Cory Craig, middle, fields an infield ground ball in front of teammate and third baseman Thomas Henry during a region baseball game with Mercyhurst Prep Friday in Erie. The Lakers won, 3-0. For Youngsville game, see page C-2.
Warren entered the bottom of the fourth trailing 11-0, but rallied to extend the game. Preston McMeans drew a walk and Chris Danielson singled to put two runners on. With two outs, Hank Morrison hit a pop-up that would have ended the game, but was dropped, bringing home two runs and giving Warren new life. Kevin VanOrd later tripled down the right field line to drive in two more and make the score 11-4.
The Dragons added one more in the fifth when Carter Cerra doubled and later scored on a Danielson single, but that was the last run they could muster in their comeback attempt.
"They just beat us," said Warren coach Jeff Passaro, whose Dragons are 11-2 overall and 6-2 in the region. "They came out and they hit the ball. We dug ourselves into too deep of a hole early on. We had some opportunities early on and couldn't get the job done. We've got to be ready for tomorrow because it's another region game."
General McLane is now 7-2 in region and in first place by a half game.
Eddie Dorunda entered the game with a 0.84 ERA, but ran into trouble in the second inning and took the loss for the Dragons. Both Cameron McIntosh and McMeans pitched in relief.
GENERAL McLANE (11): ab-r-h-rbi, Ponsoll p-3b 4-2-2-3, Gierlak cf 3-01-1-1, Mountain ss 5-1-3-1, Kulka 1b 5-2-3-2, Graham 3b-p 3-1-1-1, Astorino c 4-2-3-1, Hendricks 2b 3-0-1-1, Zewe pr 0-0-0-0, Russell rf 2-1-1-0, Leicht dh 3-1-1-1, Laird ph 1-0-0-0. Totals 33-11-16-11.
WARREN (5): ab-r-h-rbi, Thomas ss 4-0-1-0, Bevevino c 1-1-1-0, Morrison 3b 4-1-0-0, VanOrd dh-1b 3-0-1-2, Maeder lf 0-0-0-0, McIntosh p 0-0-0-0, Jaskolka rf 4-0-0-0, Dorunda p-2b 4-0-0-0, McMeans 1b-p 3-1-1-0, Fantaskey 2b-lf 3-0-0-0, Cerra ph 1-1-1-0, Danielson cf 3-1-2-1. Totals 30-5-7-3
General McLane 170 300 0 - 11 16 2
Warren 000 410 0 - 5 7 1
2b-Gierlak (G), Kulka (G), Graham (G), Bevevino (W), McMeans (W), Cerra (W). 3b-VanOrd (W). HR-Ponsoll (G). WP-Ponsoll. LP-Dorunda.
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Mercyhurst Prep 3, Youngsville 0
ERIE - It's the story of Youngsville's season.
The Eagles made a couple of key errors and couldn't get the big hit they needed during Friday's game with Mercyhurst Prep in Erie. The result was a 3-0 loss that dropped the Eagles to 3-10 on the season.
"It's been the story of our year," said Youngsville coach Tom Craig. "We play great defense for most of the game, but one or two silly errors lead to the other team scoring runs. Then, we can't put the ball in play with the bases loaded and less than two outs and we don't get any runs home. It's happened time and time again this season."
Craig said the Eagles outplayed the Lakers offensively. Youngsville cranked out eight hits and drew two walks, but left all 10 runners on base. The Lakers were able to push across three of the six runners they put on the bags.
Josh Lewis led the Eagles with two hits while Jake Marino, Caleb Linkerhof, Cory Craig, Broc Horn, Sawyer Dininny and Brodie Turner all chipped in one hit each. Craig credited Dininny with making "three outstanding defensive plays" at first base.
The Eagles hop right back into action Saturday, visiting Eisenhower in a 10 a.m. contest at Werner Park.
YOUNGSVILLE (0): ab-r-h-rbi: Marino, cf, 4-0-1-0, J. Linkerhof, 2b, 0-0-0-0, Frazier, dh, 4-0-0-0, C. Linkerhof, lf, 4-0-1-0, Craig, p, 3-0-1-0, Horn, c, 3-0-1-0, Lewis, ss, 3-0-2-0, Dininny, 1b, 3-0-1-0, McLaughlin, rf, 2-0-0-0, Henry, 3b, 2-0-0-0, Turner, ph, 1-0-1-0, Totals: 29-0-8-0
MERCYHURST (3): ab-r-h-rbi: Post, p, 3-1-1-0, Lehman, ss, 2-1-0-0, Upperman, 1b, 2-0-0-0, Perez, lf, 3-0-0-1, Hawes, 2b, 3-0-0-1, Piers, c, 2-0-0-0, Santorri, rf, 1-1-1-0, Fugassi, 3b, 2-0-1-1, McDermott, cf, 0-0-0-0, O'Connell, dh, 2-0-0-0, Totals: 20-3-3-3
Youngsville 000 000 0 - 0 8 2
Mercyhurst Prep 000 111 x - 3 3 0
WP-Post. LP-Craig.