Power surge
JEFFERSON TWP — Saxonburg manager Mike Hickey was attending a business gathering at PNC Park.
No matter.
His son and team took care of business Tuesday night at Laura Doerr Park. Logan Hickey tossed a one-hitter and Saxonburg's bats banged out 14 hits in a 12-0 win over East Butler in the king seat game of the Butler County American Legion Baseball Tournament.
Saxonburg (18-1) has outscored its first two tourney opponents 31-0 and out-hit them 26-3.
“These kids play hard all the time,” Saxonburg assistant coach Steve Hall said. “They get timely hits and play good defense. That's how they win consistently.”
After getting nicked for a pair of runs in the first inning, East Butler pitcher Garet Banner struck out the first two hitters he faced in the second. No. 9 hitter Ethan Sloane then grounded a single up the middle and Dom Bucko launched a two-run homer to left.
A three-run homer to left by Ben McMillen in the third inning extended the lead to 7-0.
“Without those two home runs, it's a 2-0 game and we're in it,” East Butler manager Russ Scott said. “But we couldn't keep them in the park at our place (Speed-O Field) when we played them and we couldn't keep them in the park here.”
Hickey took care of the rest for Saxonburg. Of his 43 pitches in the first four innings, 35 were strikes. He threw 57 of 80 pitches for strikes overall.
“My curve was working well tonight and my fastball felt good,” Hickey said. “Once we got that big lead, all I wanted to do was throw strikes and get the game over as quickly as possible.”
East Butler's lone hit was a clean single inside the third base line by Connor Miller with two outs in the second. The visitors had only three base-runners all night as Hickey struck out seven and walked two.
“We were getting the bat on the ball. A lot of those were right at 'em,” Scott said. “Those guys make the plays out there.”
McMillen had a homer, two singles and four RBI while Bucko had a homer, two singles, three runs scored and two RBI for Saxonburg. James Flemm, Dylan Swarmer and Sloane had two hits each.
“If I throw a pitch in the dirt, I know my catcher is gonna block it. If I hang a curve ball, I know my defense is behind me,” Hickey said. “Stuff like that takes a lot of pressure off the pitcher.”
Regardless, Hall said Hickey pitched the right kind of game with a sizable lead.
“He was efficient, especially early in the game,” the coach said. “Logan was getting guys out on one or two pitches there for a while.
“He was getting his pitches over the plate and with something on them.”
Saxonburg will not return to action until next Tuesday in the finals of the double-elimination tournament. East Butler will play Saturday, facing the winner of Thursday's Cranberry-West Sunbury game.
East Butler 000 000 0 — 0 1 4
Saxonburg 223 401 x — 12 14 0
W: Logan Hickey 7IP (7K, 2BB). L: Garet Banner 3IP (3K, 1BB).
East Butler (12-9): Connor Miller 1B
Saxonburg (18-1): Dom Bucko HR 2-1B 2-RBI 3-R, Logan Hickey 2B RBI 2-R, Mike McCarty RBI, James Flemm 2-1B 2-RBI 2-R, Dylan Swarmer 2-1B RBI, Ben McMillen HR 2-1B 4-RBI 2-R, Jeff Smolen 1B RBI, Ethan Sloane 2B 1B
