Murrysville Legion escapes a scare in District 31 playoffs

If the Murrysville American Legion baseball team learned anything the past two days, it is don’t underestimate your opponent.

Murrysville, seeded No. 2 in the District 31 playoffs, needed to rally from an early deficit in Game 3 of its best-of-3 series Thursday to defeat Homer City, 15-14, at Haymaker Park.

It was a nine-run fourth inning, highlighted by Cole Brinker’s three-run double, that erased a 7-4 deficit.

But No. 7 Homer City didn’t go quietly in a game that lasted nearly three hours. The visitors had the tying and winning runs on base when the final out was recorded.

“I liked the way we responded after falling behind,” Murrysville coach Bob Bozzuto said. “I told the players this was like Game 7 of the World Series, and we might have to do some unusual things.”

The teams’ pitching staffs were tested as coaches tried to find the right players to record outs.

Brinker was used twice in relief and picked up the victory. He was in line to pick up a save but had trouble finding the strike zone in the top of the seventh inning.

“We took this team lightly,” Bozzuto said. “Homer City has a lot of tradition, and I knew they’d give us a great battle. It wasn’t pretty, but we got the win.”

Murrysville took Game 1 of the series behind the strong pitching of Max Bernadowski.

Homer City won Game 2, setting up Thursday’s marathon.

Kadin Homer tripled for Homer City, Andrew Ruddock had three hits and Andrew McGee and Mike Krejocic had two hits.

Blake Bertucci had a triple, single and three RBIs for Murrysville. Bernadowski hit a double and scored four runs, Brink had two hits and three RBIs and Austin Kerns had two hits.

The win moves Murrysville into the semifinals, scheduled to begin Saturday against No. 3 Latrobe.

No. 1 Bushy Run will host Hempfield East on Saturday.

All four semifinalists qualify for the Region 7 tournament at Bald Eagle Area.