Brian Hagberg
WARREN, Pa. – On a day when Warren honored its seniors, a pair of sophomores turned in stellar performances to help lead Warren to a 13-3 win over visiting Sharpsville in five innings on Friday.
Konner Hoffman had a big day at the plate and Eric Dippold was strong on the mound as the Dragons got a mercy-rule win over the freshly-crowned Region 1 champion Blue Devils. Prior to the game, Warren honored seniors Paul Smith and JT Blum.
Hoffman went 3-3 with a double and 3-run home run with five RBIs for the Dragons. Dippold allowed three earned runs on five hits with six walks and four strikeouts in five innings for the win.
After a scoreless first, Warren struck for four runs in each of the second and third innings. Hoffman’s 3-run blast followed Brady Berdine’s RBI single in the second.
Jack Leipheimer cut the deficit in half with a 2-run double in the top of the third, but the Dragons answered back with another 4-spot in the home half.
All four runs came with two outs. Owen Blum singled and Dippold walked to put runners on first and second. Archie Teconchuk stepped in and roped an RBI single to short. Berdine followed with another run-scoring single, and Hoffman doubled to left to bring in two more runs to make it 8-2.
A Teconchuk double in the fourth brought in three more runs to push the lead to 11-2.
The Blue Devils scored a run on a wild pitch in the fifth, but Ben Sowa hit an RBI single and scored the decisive run when Anthony Errett reached on an error in the home half of the inning.
Teconchuk had a pair of hits, including a double, and drove in four. Berdine had two hits, scored twice, and had two RBIs, while JT Blum had a pair of hits and scored twice.
Stephen Tarnoci had two hits, including a double, and scored a run for Sharpsville. Leipheimer doubled and drove in a pair.
Carter Dejulia took the loss allowing eight earned runs on eight hits with two walks and two strikeouts.
