Jeff Pierce (right) is congratulated by teammates Rick Foit and Kyle Hoppy after a homerun. Photo by James Goller.
The Orchard Park Sox (18-8) earned a dominating 9-0 victory over Lockport (18-9) on Friday evening at Green Lake to move a half game ahead of Lockport for second place in the AAA Muny baseball standings.
Diesel (24-3) has already locked up the first place spot to earn an automatic bid the National Amateur Baseball Federation World Series to be held in Buffalo on August 15-18.
The Sox are battling for second place to earn an automatic bid to Youngstown, Ohio regional – one of nine NABF regional tournaments whose winners advanced to the ten-team World Series.
Eight teams from the remaining nine in AAA Muny will battle to win the preliminary playoff tournament to earn a bid to Youngstown to join the second-place finisher of the regular season.
In the win over Lockport, the Sox scored five third-inning runs to break the game open with the help of a homerun by Jeff Pierce, who also added a double.
Mark Gampietro earned the complete game shutout on the mound allowing five hits while striking out five.
Marty Foit picked up two hits including a double while Kyle Hoppy went 3-for-4 with a triple.
The Sox are scheduled to play Pignataro’s on Sunday at Green Lake at 1 p.m. and Kandefer’s on Monday night at the Northtown Center (8:30 p.m. start). They will finish the 30-game regular season by finishing a suspended game and completing another versus Orville’s at Green Lake on Wednesday, July 25.
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