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SOUTH CENTER TWP. — After a whole baseball career of trying with all their might, Mike Sulcoski, Mike Bugonowicz and the rest of their long-time teammates finally found what they’ve spent endless springs and summer searching for.

At long last, they have a chance to play for a state championship.

Sulcoski scored four times, Bugonowicz persevered on the mound and both banged out four hits Thursday while leading Nanticoke to its first Region 5 American Legion baseball championship with a 9-3 victory over stubborn South Scranton at Central Columbia High School.

“It means a lot,” Sulcoski said. “(We’ve) been playing together since we were in Little League. To finally, actually, bring it back to Nanticoke means a lot.

“We’re just real happy going to states.”

Nanticoke, now 24-2, will advance to the Pennsylvania double-elimination tournament that begins Tuesday in West Lawn.

The history-making day for Nanticoke’s Legion team was no dream. Because some of the players on the team simply refused to be thwarted yet again.

Bugonowicz, Sulcoski, Mike Blazaskie, Christian Pack and John Wickiser were all starters for a Hanover Area High School team that went unbeaten in league play while winning three straight Wyoming Valley Conference division titles, yet never won a District 2 championship to advance to states.

Some of them went as far back to 2009, when they were teammates on a Hanover Little League team that captured the District 16 championship, but fell just short in Region 5 final that sent Carbino Club on to sectionals instead. Most of them were around last summer, when Nanticoke handed eventual state champion Swoyersville its first loss of the season in the double-elimination Region 5 finals, only to fall short of states when the two teams played a second game later in the day.

And the guys who played for Hanover Area’s varsity squad watched their best bid at the 2014 District 2 championship game come up a run short against Lakeland when a screaming line drive off the bat of Bugonowicz was snared to strand runners in scoring position as the game’s final out of the final high school game for most of them.

With a bunch of those players off to college now, they weren’t about to let their last chance at playing in a state tournament fall short once more.

“It feels great,” Bugonowicz said, “especially being part of the Hanover team that lost the district (title) game.

“It feels great to finally have something to show for it.”

To earn their state berth, the Nanticoke Legion players were forced to fight for it.

South Scranton strung together three hits in the third inning, the last being Justin Belardi’s RBI single that put Hanover in a 1-0 hole.

And after Bugonowicz and Wickiser drove home runs with singles in the fourth inning, South Scranton came right back and regained the lead, 3-2, when Rob Pfleckl doubled home two runs in the bottom of the frame.

But South Scranton didn’t score again, as Bugonowicz reared back and retired seven of the next eight hitters he faced while pitching scoreless baseball over his final four innings. He worked through a hot day, getting Nanticoke through eight innings with a comfortable lead, and was helped when a baserunning blunder by South Scranton ended the seventh inning and prevented a bases-loaded situation.

“It’s just the little mistakes you’ve got to take advantage of,” said Bugonowicz, who spent his freshman college season pitching for Luzerne County Community College. “Your defense, you have them take care of it for you. It’s all about making adjustments on the mound. And not only on the mound, calling pitches. Mike (Sulcoski) has been calling a great game all season.

“We adjust.”

The battery came up big in the batter’s box, too.

Trailing 3-2 against South Scranton starter Kraigen Rosalla and his eight strikeouts through four innings, Sulcoski slammed a triple that scored Tyler Myers with the tying run in the fifth inning, then Bugonowicz bashed a run-scoring single to left field to give Nanticoke the lead to keep.

“It just seems like when you’re in a slump, nothing’s going your way,” said Bugonowicz, who went hitless in Nanticoke’s previous two regional tournament games — and was robbed of a homer in Nanticoke’s first meeting with South Scranton on Tuesday before going 4-for-4 with two RBI in the regional championship. “It feels good to finally break out of it with four hits today.”

From there, Nanticoke just kept hitting.

The Wyoming Valley American Legion champion batted around in a three-run seventh inning that pushed Nanticoke’s lead to 7-3, and not surprisingly, Sulcoski started it by slamming a two-out hit up the middle.

“He’s just a super ballplayer,” Nanticoke manager Joe Yudichak said. “Big games, he’s stepping up. Every game, he’s stepping up. He does it all.”

The game-breaking rally was highlighted by a sharp RBI single from Blazaskie, coming off his freshman season in the outfield at Misericordia, the second two-strike RBI single of the day by Wickiser and a bases-loaded infield hit by Brandon Reno that gave Nanticoke a four-run advantage.

“I fell behind both time with two strikes, I was just looking for a pitch I could put in play,” said Wickiser, who is preparing to pitch at King’s again during his sophomore season. “Fortunately, both times it found a hole. I think in previous years, we used to fall behind and not battle back.

“It seems like that changed this year.”

Nanticoke made sure momentum wouldn’t switch around again Thursday, as Sulcoski drilled an RBI double — finishing a home run shy of the cycle — and rode home with the game’s final run when Kyle Pokrinchak singled in the eighth inning.

“I was just seeing the ball well,” said Sulcoski, who flied out his first time to the plate and then rapped out four straight hits. “My first at-bat, I made an adjustment — got my hands back — it helped me to see the ball well. Every time I get on base, I always have confidence in my teammates to get me in. We’re really good with runners in scoring position so far this year.”

Then Wickiser came in to close the deal, rapidly recording the final three outs to give Nanticoke the trip to states it’s been longing for.

“I can’t put into words about how I feel about this,” Yudichak said. “I’m so proud of these kids.

“They’re a great group, a coach’s dream.”

Nanticoke 9, South Scranton 3

Nanticoke`AB`R`H`BI

Myers 2b`6`2`2`0

Pack ss`5`1`0`0

Sulcoski c`5`4`4`2

Bugonowicz p`4`1`4`2

Morgan cf`0`0`0`0

Blazaskie lf`5`1`1`0

Pokrinchak 1b`4`0`1`1

Wickiser cf,p`5`0`2`2

Reno 3b`5`0`1`1

Kreitzer rf`4`0`0`0

Labenski rf`1`0`0`0

Totals`44`9`15`8

S. Scranton`AB`R`H`BI

Orzello ss`5`0`0`0

JBelardi rf,p`2`0`2`1

Villa cf`4`0`1`0

Maldonoto c`4`0`0`0

Lanney 1b,p`4`0`0`0

Tooson lf`4`1`1`0

Destefano 2b`3`2`1`0

Pfleckl 3b`3`0`2`2

Rosalla p`0`0`0`0

Phillips dh,1b`2`0`0`0

PBelardi 1b,rf`2`0`1`0

Totals`33`3`8`3

Nanticoke`000`220`320`-`9

S. Scranton`001`200`000`-`3

2B – Sulcoski; Pfleckl. 3B – Sulcoski.

Nanticoke`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO

Bugonowicz, W`8`8`3`3`3`5

Wickiser`1`0`0`0`0`0

S. Scranton`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO

Rosalla, L`5`7`4`2`0`8

Lanney`3`8`5`5`2`2

J. Belardi`1`0`0`0`0`2

By Paul Sokoloski

[email protected]

ONLINE

Visit timesleader.com for video reaction after Nanticoke’s victory

Reach Paul Sokoloski at 570-991-6392 or on Twitter @TLPaulSokoloski

VideoID: X3JULxXei7Y
VideoType: YOUTUBE
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3JULxXei7Y
Video Embed String: <iframe width=”330” height=”315” src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/X3JULxXei7Y?rel=0” frameborder=”0” allowfullscreen></iframe>
Video Caption: Mike Sulcoski delights in four-hit day and Nanticoke’s Region 5 Legion title
Video Credit: Paul Sokoloski
Video Position: 1

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