GCC gets the better of Rockets this time
Holly Tonini
Jefferson-Morgan鈥檚 Zach Gamble makes the tag for the out on a leaping Nicholas Ruggeri of Greensburg Central Catholic during a game last season. Gamble returns this season as the Rockets try to defend the section championship they won in 2017.
Holly Tonini
Jefferson-Morgan鈥檚 Brennan Kozich settles under a fly ball in Wednesday鈥檚 WPIAL Class A semifinal game against Greensburg Central Catholic at Peterswood Park in Peters Township.
Holly Tonini
Jefferson-Morgan鈥檚 Gage Clark is safe on a steal of second as Greensburg Central Catholic鈥檚 Arthur Conforti is late with the tag during Wednesday鈥檚 WPIAL Class A semifinal game at Peterswood Park in Peters Township.
PETERS TWP. 鈥� It is hard to beat a team three times in one season in sports, which was the case for the Jefferson-Morgan baseball team Wednesday when it suffered a 7-1 setback to Greensburg Central Catholic in the WPIAL Class AA playoff semifinals at Peterswood Park.
The Rockets (12-6) defeated the Centurions (12-4) twice in the regular season to win their section championship, but struggled offensively against Greensburg C.C.鈥檚 pitching combination of starter Antonio Cavallo and reliever Joel LoNigro.
Cavallo didn鈥檛 allow a run on one hit in five innings. He had eight strikeouts and walked five in earning the victory. LoNigro allowed one run on two hits in two innings. He had three strikeouts and walked one.
鈥淵ou have to compliment Antonio (Cavallo),鈥� Jefferson-Morgan coach John Curtis said. 鈥淗e pitched a great game. He mixed his pitches well, and we just didn鈥檛 get the hits today.鈥�
Jefferson-Morgan, who won its first playoff game in 16 years with a victory in the quarterfinals, can still make it to the state tournament if it wins the third-place consolation game against Union at a site, date and time to be determined.
The Centurions jumped out for two runs in the first inning when Nick Ruggeri scored on Jason Hoover鈥檚 RBI single to left field. Hoover had four hits, three RBI and three runs scored.
Hoover scored on Ethan Bailey鈥檚 groundout to first base for the 2-0 advantage.
Rockets starting pitcher Jake Broadwater didn鈥檛 have his best game in allowing six runs (five earned) on eight hits in 3.2 innings of work. He had one strikeout and walked six.
Devin Stoneking came on for Broadwater and allowed one run on five hits in 3.1 innings. He had five strikeouts and didn鈥檛 walk a batter.
鈥淒evin (Stoneking) came in and did a nice job,鈥� Curtis said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 regret who I started because they are both sophomores and their pitch counts are about the same.鈥�
Greensburg Central Catholic added a run in the third for a 3-0 lead and three in the fourth on five hits to hold a 6-0 advantage. The Centurions plated their seventh run in the fifth inning.
Jefferson-Morgan got on the board in the seventh when Brennan Kozich reached base on an infield single, moved to second on a balk and third on Stoneking鈥檚 single before scoring on Gage Clark鈥檚 sacrifice flyout to center field.
Justin Maddich had the other hit for the Rockets, an infield hit up the middle in the fifth to break up Cavallo鈥檚 no-hitter.
Greensburg Central Catholic did its fair share of running with eight stolen bases.
鈥淭hey have run a lot in the past, and the delivery our two pitchers have makes it tough when guys are stealing,鈥� Curtis said. 鈥淲e knew we were going to have to score some runs today to beat this team.鈥�