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Higashioka’s homers help RailRiders stay in front of another late Louisville rally

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Odyssey to host Keystone State Games powerlifting competition

HUGHESTOWN &#8212; Swoyersville had a scare in the first few innings of its Region 5 Tournament opening game on Friday.After shaking off the rust, the team pounded it&#8217;s way to a win over Tri-Boro then continued to rake on Saturday at Pittston Area Primary Center.Backed by a stellar pitching performance from Nate Baranski, Swoyersville made quick work of Hazleton Stripes &amp; Strikes, winning 13-1 in five innings to advance to the winner&#8217;s bracket final.In the nine innings since trailing Tri-Boro 7-0, Swoyersville tallied 22 runs. Swoyersville will play Mountain Post in a rematch of last week&#8217;s Wyoming Valley championship game at 2:30 p.m. Sunday with a berth in the tournament championship game on the line.&#8220;Coming in, we didn&#8217;t really have a sense of urgency,&#8221; Baranski said. &#8220;We never heard of Tri-Boro. We saw their team size. They were kinda small, and we kinda took them lightly for the first three innings and gave up seven. Then we took it seriously after that, put up that nine-bag and it came out our way.&#8220;We know we have a target on our back, but we have to get the job done against the teams out here.&#8221;On Saturday afternoon, Swoyersville wasted little time getting going, scoring a pair of runs in the first inning on a pair of RBI doubles by Pat Adamski and Baranski to go up 2-0.That&#8217;s all the support Baranski would need. The soon-to-be freshman at Bloomsburg University cruised, going four innings and only allowing three hits in 3 2/3 shutout innings.He didn&#8217;t allow a Hazleton batter to advance past second base. And, because he didn&#8217;t throw too many pitches in a rout, he will be eligible to return later in the tournament if needed.Most pitchers would get drained easily in the hot and humid weather, but Baranski said it helped him have one of his best games, as he struck out six.&#8220;The heat obviously helped with my velo,&#8221; Baranski said. &#8220;And getting an inning in (Friday) helped. It was like a bullpen (session). So it was good.&#8221;The onslaught continued in the second inning as Tommy Federici slapped a two-run single and Mike Kane hit a two-run homer to up the Swoyersville lead to 6-0. The team put up three more runs in the third and four more in the fourth, highlighted by a two-run double from Draig Ruff.Aggressive baserunning from all the players was also a big factor, including from Tyler O&#8217;Kane, who hit a hustle double on a shallow fly, then scored from second on a fielder&#8217;s choice in the fourth.It&#8217;s the type of play that Swoyersville manager Gary Gavrish called Swoyersville ball &#8212; something the team lacked in the opening game.&#8220;We had a 20-minute to half-hour postgame talk (Friday) because we were really, really sloppy,&#8221; Gavrish said. &#8220;And I had to remind them about what it is to have fun here playing for Swoyersville legion baseball, and why they always look forward to coming here and playing for our program. I asked them to be more focused. As a result, you saw the hustle on the bases. The hustle on the field. That&#8217;s the way we want to play legion baseball.&#8220;They all came focused. We were in group texts all night long. These guys were back watching games later in the day. And they all couldn&#8217;t wait to get this thing going.&#8221;Hazleton falls into the loser&#8217;s bracket and will try to stave off elimination this morning at 9:30 a.m. against West Scranton, which eliminated Berwick on Saturday morning with a 4-1 victory.The only run Hazleton tallied came on an RBI single by Corey Zientek in the fourth inning.Even though Stripes &amp; Strikes lost a tough one on Saturday, manager Keith Segedy said his team is optimistic going forward.&#8220;We knew they had to throw Baranski, and we weren&#8217;t going to waste a No. 1 (pitcher) against a guy that is really superb in our league, and if you throw your best game you might lose to him,&#8221; Segedy said. &#8220;We&#8217;re back with our No. 3 guy back (Sunday) so we&#8217;re fine.&#8220;They knew our approach going in. We were missing some players due to some prior commitments, and that&#8217;s part of summer baseball. They knew what could have happened.&#8220;We try to take lessons out of all of this, how to play the game when you lose and how to play when you win. That&#8217;s the great thing about baseball &#8212; there&#8217;s always a life lesson in it, and we try to portray that to the kids.&#8221;Region 5 Senior Legion tournamentSwoyersville 13, Stripes &amp; Strikes 1Swoyersville `AB`R`H`BIRuff cf`3`0`1`2Federici rf`4`2`1`2Adamski 3b`3`1`1`1Kane 1b`4`1`1`2Baranski p`2`1`1`1Severns p`1`0`0`0Banas c`1`2`0`0Conway 2b`2`2`1`1O&#8217;Kane lf`2`3`2`0Gibbons ss`1`1`0`1Totals`23`13`8`10Hazleton`AB`R`H`BIZientek cf`3`0`2`1Martinez ss`3`0`0`0Colyer 1b`2`0`0&#8217;0Pozniak lf`3`0`1`0Diaz 3b`3`0`1`0Wilson 2b`3`0`0`0Skuba dh`2`1`1`0Buchman c`2`0`2`0Boitel rf`1`0`0`0Totals`22`1`7`1Swoyersville`243`40 &#8212; 13Hazleton`000`100 &#8212; 12B: Ruff, Adamski, O&#8217;Kane, Baranski, Conway, Diaz. HR: KaneSwoyersville`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SOBaranski (W) `3.2`3`0`0`1`6Severns`1.1`4`1`1`1`2Hazleton`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SOEisenhower (L) `2.0`5`6`5`2`3Schell`3.0`3`7`7`6`1<style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Dave RosengrantFor Times Leader</bylineMeta></div>

Region 5 Legion playoffs: Swoyersville bats stay hot against Hazleton