A theatrical and ominous gray cloud made its way over the left field fence in the fourth inning of Monday afternoon's Ches-Mont League baseball game, a game that saw Unionville locked in a 4-4 tie with visiting Bayard Rustin, leading to speculation as to which would come first: the rain or the rally.

The rains never came. The rally did.

Fueled by a six-run sixth inning that saw key hits by Tyler Rafetto, Alex Pechin and Ryan Barrett, the Unionville Indians slugged their way to a 10-5 victory over Rustin, in support of pitcher Andrew Jones' complete game.

On an afternoon that was ten degrees too cold for baseball and ten degrees too warm for ice skating, Rustin broke into the scoring column in the top of the first, when Matt Coates singled to left, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Scott Spak that led to an infield throwing error by Unionville, and scored on a double to right field by Charlie Concannon. Unionville answered back with two runs in their half of the first, highlighted by a triple to right-center by Pechin that brought in Drew Jarmuz, who had walked and stolen second base. An infield error on a grounder by Barrett then scored Pechin.

Down 2-1 in the third, Rustin staked starting pitcher Andrew Chobany to a two-run lead when it tacked on three more runs on RBI singles by Concannon and Steven Dewitt.

The Indians touched the scoreboard twice in the fifth, highlighted by Jarmuz's double off the center field wall that brought in Eric Takoushian. With two outs and Jarmuz on second, Barrett's single to center field tied the score at 4-4.

After his somewhat shaky start, Jones pitched masterfully for the remainder of the game, shutting Rustin down 1-2-3 in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.

Unionville's half of the sixth inning saw all nine batters come to the plate during a six-run, six-hit outburst that put the game out of reach and eventually chased Chobany. An infield single by Zack Kennedy got the rally started, which found him on third base after a double to right field by A.J. Narcise. Takoushian got to first when he was hit with a pitch, and with bases loaded, Rafetto's single brought in Kennedy and Narcise to give the Indians a 6-4 lead.

With new Rustin pitcher Chris McMahon now on the mound, Jarmuz, Pechin and Barrett all singled to right field to plate four more runs, building a comfortable 10-4 lead for Jones. Although he surrendered one run in the top of the seventh on three singles, Jones shut the door when Dewitt flied out to the left field to end the game. Jones scattered nine hits and struck out four on the day.

The victory gives Unionville an 8-6 overall record on the season, while the loss gives Rustin a 9-3 overall record. The Indians travel to Coatesville on April 29, while Rustin plays the same day at Downingtown East.

To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, e-mail [email protected].