Latrobe stumbles in Region 7 baseball opener

By: Paul Schofield
Friday, August 7, 2020 | 6:39 PM

For the third time in four games, the Latrobe pitching staff has allowed 10 or more runs.

That trend continued Friday in the Region 7 Baseball Tournament in Hollidaysburg as Latrobe dropped a 10-1 decision to Claysburg.

The Jethawks, the Westmoreland County American Baseball League regular season champion, will drop into the losers’ bracket and will face Mt. Union, which fell to Yough, at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at Juniata Field in Altoona.

Claysburg jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Latrobe scored its run in the fourth when Ben Anderson singled and scored on Ben Rafferty’s double.

But Claysburg pitcher Corey Chamberlain shut out the Jethawks the rest of the way, allowing just five hits, while striking out 10 and walking one.

“We beat him in the regional tournament last season, but he’s a lot better this season,” Latrobe coach Jason Bush said. “He really pitched well.”

Claysburg added a run in the third inning and put the game away with a seven-run sixth inning highlighted by a controversial double down the line that Bush and others felt (Yough players attending the game) was 2 feet foul.

“I thought Jacob (Bradish) pitched great,” Bush said. “We just didn’t support his effort. Hopefully we’ll bounce back Saturday.

“We’ve come a long ways from not playing at all to playing 35-36 games. We don’t want it to end on Saturday.”

Vinny Amatucci had two hits for Latrobe. Rafferty had the Jethawks’ only extra base hit.

Seth Musselman had three hits including a triple for Claysburg. Caleb Gampe and Chamberlain hit doubles for the winner.

Lleyton Kling and Ben Dombrosky each had two hits.

Summary

Claysburg 10, Latrobe 1

Latrobe 000-100-0— 1- 5-2

Claysburg 200-107-x—10-13-0

WP: Cory Chamberlain. LP: Jacob Bradish.

2B: L: Ben Rafferty. C: Caleb Gampe, Chamberlain. 3B: C: Seth Musselman.

2 or more hits: C: Musselman 3 for 4, Chamberlain 2 for 2 for 3, Lleyton Kling 2 for 3, Ben Dombrosky 2 for 4. L: Vinny Amatucci 2 for 3.

Paul Schofield is a TribLive reporter covering high school and college sports and local golf. He joined the Trib in 1995 after spending 15 years at the Daily Courier in Connellsville, where he served as sports editor for 14 years. He can be reached at pschofield@triblive.com.

Tags: Latrobe, Ligonier Valley