In its past two games, the Connellsville American Legion baseball team has put up the kind of offensive numbers usually only seen in video games.
Connellsville pounded out 24 hits in a 27-8 five-inning thumping of host Farmington on Monday. And that came after the team racked up 21 hits in a 17-11 victory over Charleroi on Friday.
"We hit the ball like crazy," Connellsville coach John Przybylinski said of his team's performance yesterday. "I'll take that every day. It makes it easy on me."
Connellsville's John Malone, making his first Legion start, had more than enough run support, and he did his best to avoid any sticky situations.
"He threw strikes, and he made them hit the ball, and that's a great job," Przybylinski said.
Malone didn't have to worry about being too cautious, considering he never pitched with anything less than a seven-run lead.
Connellsville (7-5) started with an eight-run first inning, followed by a two-run second, eight-run third, four-run fourth and five-run fifth.
"I never anticipate what the game is going to be like after one inning, so I just told the guys to keep hitting and keep playing," Przybylinski said. "If you do that, usually everything works out."
There were plenty of offensive standouts for Connellsville, but Steve O'Donnell stood out. The Connellsville second baseman went 5 for 5 with a walk, four runs scored and seven RBI.
"It was just one of those games," O'Donnell said. "I was in a zone, and I was seeing the ball real well out of the pitcher's hand. I wish I could feel like that all the time. It was definitely a good team win for us."
Some other highlights for Connellsville included Seth Campbell's three-run homer and two-run triple, Tyler McWilliams' four singles and five RBI, Bill Dye's three hits and three runs scored, Alex Keslar's four runs scored and Tyler Domer's three RBI. Andrew Brooks, Matt Jaynes and Greg Welsh each had two hits.
Pitcher Anthony Sparks started and took the loss for Farmington, a team still searching for its first win.
"Our pitching is weak, and that's the No. 1 thing," Farmington coach Lloyd Jackson said. "But you have to give Connellsville credit. They were hitting the ball.
"I tell our team to never give up, but we need to give up less hits and hit a little bit more ourselves."
Frank Duritsky led Farmington (0-11) with three singles and a run scored. Sparks knocked in three runs with a double and a single.
Connellsville will try to keep the offense rolling when it visits Carmichaels on Wednesday.
