DuBOIS — The DuBois Rockets are headed back to the Federation League championship series after competing a three-game sweep of Sykesville in semifinal round Thursday with a hard-fought 2-0 victory against the Senators at Showers Field.
The game was a classic pitchers’ duel between a pair of league veterans — DuBois’ TJ Gornati and Sykesville’s Dan Wascovich. And, it was Gornati who won that battle as he tossed five scoreless innings, giving up three hits while striking out seven and walking none to get the win.
The Rockets got all the offense Gornati needed with single runs in the first and second innings.
Gornati’s strong outing came in the midst of him helping lead his son TJ’s St. Marys Minor League All-Star baseball team to the state tournament as its manager.
That group of young St. Marys players won the Section 1 title in the if-necessary championship game Wednesday night with an 11-1, 5-inning victory against Saegertown and begins play at states in Newville on Sunday against Back Mountain at 1 p.m.
The younger Gornati was on hand to watch his father deal in the Fed League playoff game Thursday. Dan Stauffer threw the final two innings for the Rockets to notch he save. He allowed two hits while striking out a pair and walking one.
Wascovich wound up the hard-luck loser after going the distance for the Senators. He allowed two earned run on eight hits in six innings of work while walking a pair.
“You know what you’re going to get with TJ every time he takes the ball,” said Rockets manager Jeff Gasbarre. “He’s going to pound the zone, attack with the fast ball and throw a lot of strikes. So, you don’t have to do much behind him and today we did enough (to win) and did it early.
“Wookie (Wascovich) can pitch too. We came in today saying we need to scrap a couple (runs) across early. And, that’s exactly what we did early. We faced Wookie plenty and had enough 2-1, 3-1, 2-0 games with him to know a couple runs could be enough to get it done. We knew what kind of game we could be in for, and you could feel that in the first on how it night all go down.
“We’re excited to get back to the finals. It’s a long season and a grind to get to this point. We talk all the time about how we’re here to win, and we have a hungry team. And, it was good to be engaged in a close game like we had Tuesday (8-7 come-from-behind victory) and again today before the finals started.”
Gornati got two quick outs to open the game before Sykesville tried to make some noise when Jake Felix singled and went to third on a double Shane Price. Gornati halted the Senators’ two-out rally there as he struck out Jordan Frano to strand a pair in scoring position.
Gornati dominated from there, with the strikeout of Frano starting a stretch of 12 straight batters retired by the Rockets righty. Senator Tylor Herzing finally ended that run when he beta out an infield single on a ball chopped up the first-base line.
Sykesville couldn’t capitalize on the infield hit though, as DuBois left fielder Brett Beith had Jake Mowrey played perfectly and hauled in a line drive to end the inning.
Meanwhile, the DuBois offense jumped on Wascovich for a run in the first, although it could have been more.
Thayne Morgan got things started with a leadoff walk and scored from first when Stauffer doubled to right-center. Stauffer was then caught stealing by Sykesville catcher Frano, a play that proved key when Chris Calliari and Cory Lehman followed with back-to-back singles.
Wascovich left that duo on the corners though when he got Beith to fly out to left to end the inning. DuBois managed just the one run in the frame, but in the end, that proved to be the difference.
The Rockets doubled their lead in the second.
They loaded the bases with no outs on a single by Clayton Read, bunt single by Josh Sorbera and a Luke Salvo walk. Sorbera’s bunt was actually a sacrifice attempt but he managed to push it past Wascovich for a hit.
That turned the lineup over to the top, where Garrett Brown hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Read to make it 2-0.
Sykesville first baseman Curvin Goheen made a nice defensive play on the relay throw home, as he made a leaping catch near the mound and fired to third to get Sorbera. who tried to tag up, for a second out on the play.
Wascovich then got Morgan to fly out to right to end the inning. Wascovich settled in from there and kept the Rocket bats silent for the most part over the final four innings.
DuBois did get singles by Read and Salvo in the fourth, but Wascovich worked out of the situation to keep it a 2-0 game. Read and Stauffer each had two hits for the Rockets.
Sykesville made one final push in the seventh against Stauffer.
Frano led off with a walk, while Ryan Walker followed with a single. However, Stauffer countered with a strikeout before getting Herzing to hit into a fielder’s choice for out No. 2 that left runners on the corners in a 2-0 game.
Stauffer ended any hopes of a Senators comeback there as he struck out Mowrey to end the game and send the Rockets back to the finals, where they will look to defend their Fed League crown won a year ago.
DuBOIS ROCKETS 2,
SYKESVILLE 0
Score by Innings
Sykesville 000 000 0 — 0
DuBois 110 000 0 — 2
Sykesville—0
Brandon Sicheri cf 3000, Devon Walker 2b 3000, Jake Felix ss 3020, Shane Price 3b 3010, Jordan Frano c 2000, Ryan Walker dh 3010, Grant Ognen pr 0000, Dan Wascovich p 0000, Curvin Goheen 1b 3000, Tylor Herzing rf 3010, Jake Mowrey lf 3000. Totals: 26-0-5-0.
DuBois—2
Garrett Brown 2b 2001, Thayne Morgan cf 2100, Dan Stauffer dh-p 3021, TJ Gornati p 0000, Chris Calliari rf 3010, Cory Lehman 1b 3010, Brett Beith lf 3000, Clayton Read ss 3120, Josh Sorbera 3b 2010, Luke Salvo c 1010. Totals: 22-2-8-2.
Errors: Sykesville 0, DuBois 0. LOB: Sykesville 6, DuBois5. 2B: Proice; Stauffer. SF: Brown. CS: Stauffer 2 (2 by Frano).
Sykesville: Dan Wascovich-6 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 0 SO.
DuBois: TJ Gornati-5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 SO; Dan Stauffer-2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO.
Winning pitcher: Gornati. Losing pitcher: Wascovich. Save: Stauffer.
