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Fayetteville's offense not enough vs. Dallastown


Both teams had offense in spades, but Dallastown had more of it as Post 605 defeated Fayetteville, 11-8, in an elimination game of the Region 4 American Legion baseball tournament Sunday afternoon at the Fayetteville Fire Department.

The victory moves Dallastown on to another elimination contest against Lawnton at 9:30 a.m. Monday at Greene Township Park.

A day after being held to just one run against Ephrata, Dallastown pounded out 13 knocks, drew eight walks and also benefited from nine Fayetteville errors.

"The field was very dry and it felt like that caused some of the bad bounces for them," Dallastown manager Phil Jeanmenne said. "I told our guys to play back a little bit to give themselves more time to make the play."

Acting as the visitor, Fayetteville jumped on Dallastown starter Riley Hamberger for three runs and five hits in the opening frame with Austin Suders booming a double to the fence in right field that chased home Tristan Daywalt and Chance McClure.

Unfortunately for Fayetteville, the defensive miscues began almost immediately. Dallastownn jumped three Fayetteville errors in the first inning to erase the deficit and assume a 4-3 lead in an inning that took 45 minutes to complete.

Fayetteville (8-11) trailed 5-4 in the fifth when Suders drew a bases loaded walk, he had also singled in the third to drive home a run and finished the afternoon with four RBIs.

Dallastown (15-5-1) led 8-5 in the seventh when Riley Hamberger singled home a run and Nick Parker then brought home two runs with a single. Hamberger now has six hits in the first two games of the tournament.

The eighth inning saw Fayetteville mount one more rally. Bryce Kendall and McClure each drove home runs with two-baggers, and Trent Ebersole brought one in on a sac fly.

Kolby Harbaugh followed Ebersole's sac fly with a single to right field, but McClure was gunned down at the plate to end the inning.

"We had a lot of hits and a lot of runners, but not enough key hits when we needed them," said Fayetteville manager Kyle Patterson, who was ejected in the fourth inning for arguing a call. "We left too many guys on."

Fayetteville left nine runners on, six of them in scoring position.

Dallastown has now registered 21 hits in the two games, something that left Jeanmenne quite happy.

"We hit the ball well again, but we were able to find more holes today," he said. "Our approach at the plate has been good. Guys are being patient when they aren't getting strikes, but they're attacking when they do. The pitch recognition has been very good."

Hamberger finished five innings with the game tied, 5-5, but his team scored twice in the sixth, which earned him the victory. He allowed five runs and 11 hits while fanning six and issuing two free passes. He threw 96 pitches, 64 of them strikes.

"Riley did a great job for us," Jeanmenne said. "Every pitcher I send out there, I just expect three innings out of them. He gave me five today, and I'll take it."

The season ends for Fayetteville with the loss, but Patterson was proud of the showing that his team gave of itself.

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VIDEO: Dallastown overcomes Fayetteville, 11-8
Dallastown out-powers Fayetteville in Region 4 elimination-game on Sunday afternoon.
Video by Lizi Arbogast, Public Opinion

"We knew all year that we were in this tournament because we were hosting it," Patterson said. "And sometimes, our effort showed that and we didn't play well. We played up and down all year. But we played well in both of these games and I'm proud of our guys. We should have a lot of them back next year."