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CLAYSBURG -- Cumming Motors gave up a big fourth inning to the Allegheny A's, and it never recovered.
It certainly wasn't for a lack of chances as Cumming had no trouble getting runners on base.
Unfortunately, getting the baserunners the whole way home proved to be the issue as Cumming left 16 on base.
The result was a 9-5 loss to the A's in the quarterfinals of the Rust Belt League playoffs on Tuesday night at Claysburg-Kimmel High School.
"We left a lot of guys on base -- we couldn't get the timely hit," Cumming Motors coach Chris Sanders said.
Cumming Motors got on the board first in the bottom of the second when Ethan Schimony walked to lead off, moved to second on a single by Braedyn Kormanic, went to third on a tag up and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Ayden Albright.
CM pitcher Zach Witherow shut down the A's in order through the first three innings. However, Allegheny finally got to Witherow in the fourth when it got back to the top of its order.
"Zach has been one of our aces all year," Sanders said. "He was leaving a couple of balls up there late in the third and into the fourth. But I'm not concerned about Zach because he'll come back and be ready to go for Johnstown (AAABA Tournament)."
Two straight singles by Ben Aftanos and Tyler Danko led off the inning before an out was recorded.
Trent Bielak produced a run-scoring single, while Colin Solinski, the next batter, matched that to give Allegheny a lead it didn't relinquish at 2-1.
Matt Delduca reached on an error to allow Bielak to score before the second out came via a strikeout.
Tate Minich came through with a two-run triple to right-center to put the A's up 5-1.
Tommy Zimmerman, the ninth hitter, followed with an RBI double down the third base line to bring in Minich for the sixth run.
"They (Cumming Motors) really shut us down for the first three innings, and we couldn't do anything," Allegheny A's coach Mike McNabb said. "We turned the order over and got the top back up for the second time through the order. A lot of times that's what you need because you know what to expect when it comes to that pitcher."
A's starting pitcher, Jimmy Kunst, and reliever, Tyler Vogel, kept Cumming in check after the second inning until the eighth.
Despite allowing base runners via singles, walks, hit-by-pitches and errors, the defense behind the hurlers got Allegheny out of a few jams as Cumming Motors left 14 players stranded on the base paths in from the time it scored its run until the end of the seventh frame.
"Our defense all year has been exceptional," McNabb said. "We've won a lot of low scoring games because of our defense. We play a very sound defensive game."
Cumming Motors gave up two more runs in the fifth and a single run in the seventh to dig itself into a 9-1 hole.
CM wasn't about to fold easily as it rallied for four runs in the bottom of the eighth.
Schimony reached on a walk to start, then moved to second on an error by A's second baseman Zach Johnston.
Peyton Vancus got a free pass, the eighth surrendered by the Allegheny pitchers, before Aaron Smearman hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Schimony from third.
Albright delivered an RBI single to score Kormanic, then was followed by a run-scoring groundout by Brady Angus that pushed Vancus home.
Zac LeGars set the final score when his double chased Albright across the plate.
Cumming Motors will await the drawing for the AAABA Tournament in two weeks.
"We're a resilient group, and we're going to bounce back with the tournament coming in two weeks," Sanders said. "That's one of the main reasons why I like playing in this college league is because what we saw out here today is what we see in the tournament."
Meanwhile, Allegheny A's advanced to the semifinals tonight at 3B Barons.
ALLEGHENY A'S (9): Aftanos ss 511, Danko cf 622, Billotte lf 400, Bielak 1b 522, Solinski dh 412. Kunst p 000, Vogel p 000, Delduca 3b 522, Johnston 2b 501, T. Minich c 401, Zimmerman rf 502 Totals -- 43 9 13.
CUMMING MOTORS (5): Green cf 201, LeGars cf 201, Steinbugl 2b-p 501, Boyles dh 401, Witherow p 000, Ebeling p 000, Meengs p 000, Ewing p 000, Cooper eh 500, Schimony 1b 020, Bush 3b 000, Kormanic c 401, Vancus ss 311, Smearman 3b 201, Albright lf 311, Angus rf 300. Totals -- 33 5 8.
SCORE BY INNINGS
Allegheny A's 000 620 100--9 13 3
Cumming Motors 010 000 040--5 8 3
E--Delduca, Bielak, Vogel, Smearman, Steinbugl, Bush. 2B--Zimmerman 2, Delduca, Danko, Boyles, LeGars. 3B--B. Minich. RBI--Bielak 2, B. Minich 2, Zimmerman 2, Solinski, Johnston, Albright 2, LeGars, Smearman. SB--Bielak, Johnston, Albright, Kormanic, Boyles. CS--Angus. WP--Kunst 2.
PITCHING
Allegheny A's: Kunst (W): 5.0 innings, 5 H, 4 K, 5 BB, 1 R, 1 ER, 101 pitches.
Vogel: 4.0 innings, 3 H, 3 K, 3 BB, 4 R, 1 ER, 92 pitches.
Cumming Motors: Witherow (L): 4.1 innings, 8 H, 3 K, 0 BB, 8 R, 4 ER, 80 pitches.
Ebeling: 2.0 innings, 3 H, 3 K, 2 BB, 0 R, 0 ER, 39 pitches.
Meengs: 1.1 innings, 1 H, 0 K, 0 BB, 0 R, 0 ER, 7 pitches.
Ewing: 0.2 innings, 1 H, 0 K, 1 BB, 0 R, 0 ER, 13 pitches.
Steinbugl: 1.0 innings, 0 H, 1 K, 0 BB, 0 R, 0 ER, 13 pitches.
Records: Allegheny A's (16-10-0); Cumming Motors (16-10-3).