JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP — The Division II district baseball tournament at Havens Complex features some of the best talent in all of the state.

Friday afternoon, the Jefferson Falcons came unbearably close to a district title and regional berth against the Lake Catholic Cougars falling 6-4 in a thriller than went down to the last out.

Tied at 4-4 in the bottom of the sixth, Lake Catholic used perfect execution of a simple hit and run play to score a pair of runs to account for the final score.

With one out, Kurtis Fusco, who had relieved Cole Erdel in the fifth with runners on first and second and stopped the Cougars in their tracks, wasn’t quite as fortunate this time.

Andrew Kustec drilled a single to right field and Sam Cicconetti followed suit in a perfectly executed hit and run play. With Falcon second baseman Chase Stowe breaking toward second on the steal, Cicconetti sent a routine ground ball into the spot Stowe had vacated, setting up runners at the corners.

Cicconetti promptly stole second, and Zach Frate sent a sharp grounder right up the middle to plate both runners for the winning margin.

“We hadn’t executed well a couple times earlier in the game when we had runners in scoring position,” Cougar coach Dennis Woods said. “A lot of the credit for that goes to Jefferson. They are a good team, and they did some very good things in this game today.”

The Cougars had jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second inning, but heads up play from the Falcons kept things from getting out of hand early.

After Lou Peterlin walked to open the inning, Billy Salem laid a bunt down the third baseline. Scott Davidson was on the spot to make the play, but his throw was offline, setting up runners at first and second. Zach Hawkins ripped a double down the rightfield line for the first run of the game.

With runners at second and third, Dan Koller hit a chopper to shortstop Joey Piscsalko and his toss to the plate was perfect to nail Salem, and with Hawkins trying to advance to third, catcher Nick Stranman fired a bullet back to Davidson to get him for an unorthodox 6-2-5 double play.

Falcon starter Cole Erdel hit Kustec with a pitch and Sam Cicconetti ripped a two-run double to left center in the next at-bat to give the Cougars a 3-0 lead.

“Jefferson did a nice job of battling back,” Woods said. “I think we had leads of like 3-0, 3-2, 4-2 and they finally tied it up again later. They play hard all the way.”

A one-out walk to Chase Stowe and a triple down the left field line by Joe Piscsalko scored a run, and Andy Santiago followed that with a long drive to left for a sacrifice fly, cutting the lead to 3-2.

Lou Peterlin’s triple with two outs in the third and subsequent single by Salem made it 4-2, but Erdel, a sophomore right-hander, got the next four batters he faced out.

When he hit the leadoff man and walked the next batter in the fifth, Fusco entered and slammed the door until the sixth-inning rally.

“(A couple plays made the difference) that’s what happened today.” a disappointed but proud Jefferson coach Scott Barber said. “We went up against one of the best pitchers in our region and did very well, just not well enough.”

He referred to Lake left-hander Joey  Samuele (7-2). He used a sharp curveball late in the game to fool Falcon hitters for the tough win.

“For the most part,” Samuele said, “my sinker has been my out pitch this season. It wasn’t working so well today, though. I was able to use the curveball late in the game for a couple strikeouts.”

His breaking ball kept the Falcons off balance as he nailed the corners in the fifth and sixth innings.

Jefferson (21-7) had its chances, but could not convert.

Samuele hit two of the first three hitters in the sixth, but a strikeout and fly to right ended that threat.

In the seventh, Piscsalko ripped his second hit of the game, a blooper just between shortstop and center field. Santiago sent a sharp liner to shortstop, but in his exuberance to get a double play, Salem fired the ball well beyond first base, sending Piscsalko to second. He moved up to third on a groundout, and Stranman drew a walk with two outs.

But, Samuele got Davidson to a hitter a tapper back to him and he calmly through to first to get the final out of the game.

Kustec, who scored twice, and Cicconetti, who had two hits and drove in a pair of runs, led the Cougar attack.

Piscsalko’s two hits made him the only Jefferson hitter with more than one as Samuele scattered six Falcon hits over seven innings work.

Kelly is a freelance writer from Jefferson.

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