A double dose of victory: Leece keys Astro Falcons

The Astros took a one-game lead in the championship series.
By ZACH STIPE
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
STRUTHERS -- Despite playing a two-and-a-half hour semifinal game directly before, the Astro Falcons were able to squeak out a 3-2 victory over R & amp; J Trucking in Game 1 of the Class B championship series at Cene Park Tuesday.
Ben Leece pitched four strong innings, giving up only one earned run. Leece also earned the win over Rondinelli Tuxedo that propelled the Astros into the semifinal game earlier in the night.
Dave Dejacimo had a triple, a single and knocked in the winning run for the Astros.
Leece, who wasn't expecting to pitch in both games, was happy to lead his team to victory.
"I've been resting for a while so I was ready to go," Leece said.
Matt Pirko relieved Leece in the fifth inning and pitched three scoreless innings to pick up the victory for the Astros.
For R & amp;J Trucking, Joe Fox pitched a complete game, tallying nine strikeouts, but got the loss. Ben Miller had two RBIs.
R & amp;J jumped to an early 2-0 lead. Miller hit a sacrifice fly that scored Travis McCarthy to give his team a 1-0 advantage in the first inning.
R & amp;J scored again when Miller poked a single to left field that scored David Patrick and gave R & amp;J a 2-0 lead in the third.
After being baffled by Fox, the Astros finally got their bats going in the fourth.
The Astros' Cameron Konop and Drew Turocy led off the fourth with back-to-back singles. A wild pitch advanced the pair into scoring position, before Kyle Smith and Evan Proach followed with a pair of sacrifices to tie the game at 2-2.
Dave Dejacimo's triple foreshadowed more damage, but he was left on base after Fox finished the inning with his sixth strikeout.
The score remained tied at 2-2 until the bottom of the sixth. Konop opened the inning with a single. Turocy followed with sacrifice bunt, but reached on an error. Konop was picked off by R & amp;J cather Eddie Rohan and Kyle Smith struck out, bringing Dejacimo to the plate with two outs.
Dejacimo came through for the Astros with a single to score Turocy and give the Astros a 3-2 lead.
Pirko held off R & amp;J in the seventh to give the Astros the 3-2 win and a 1-0 advantage in the best-of-5 series. It also made them 2-0 on the night.
"I really thought we'd be burnt out [after playing a semifinal game before the championship game]," Dejacimo said. "But we pulled through."
Games 2 and 3 will be played at 6 and 8 p.m. tonight at Cene Park. If needed, Games 4 and 5 will be played at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Thursday.
Astro used a five-run second inning and a four-run fourth in the deciding game of the second-round series.
Corey Susany had three hits and Konop had two for Astros. Leece tossed 32/3 innings of one-run relief for the win.
Chuck Olesky had three hits for Rondinelli.