Rockets, Raiders fall in quarterfinals
McMURRAY – It’s easy to see why Serra Catholic is the No. 1-ranked baseball team in Class A in the WPIAL this season.
The Eagles tore up Jefferson-Morgan Tuesday afternoon, 11-1 in six innings, in the quarterfinals at Peters Township’s Joe Maize Field.
In the day’s nightcap, South Park eliminated Waynesburg Central, also 11-1, in a Class 3A quarterfinal.
The Rockets carried a 13-game winning streak into their game.
Serra Catholic scored in a myriad of ways and got on base even more. The Eagles used the bunt as an offensive weapon, stole nine bases and induced a couple balks to help the cause.
Did we mention pitching?
Two starters held Jefferson-Morgan (14-4) to just three hits and one run.
“That’s a good team but we didn’t play well today,” said Jefferson-Morgan coach John Curtis, who celebrated his 400th coaching win earlier this season. “I don’t know what it was. We had a few hits but we couldn’t put anything together.”
Owen Dumbroski started for Serra (18-3) and went four innings, allowing just one hit. Bodie Reiger finished the game, allowing one run in three innings.
“Defensively, we didn’t move the way we’re supposed to,” Curtis said. “And they took advantage of it.”
Jefferson-Morgan’s pitching walked the game into a Mercy Rule affair. The Rockets issued nine free passes.
“I’m very happy,” said Serra Catholic head coach Brian Dzurenda. “We had a long layoff and Jefferson-Morgan had won 13, 14 games. The little things you do make a difference. We’re here because we do the little things.”
The Rockets scored their one run in the sixth inning when Drew Adams walked and courtesy runner Liam Rogers scored on Deakyn DeHoet’s double.
Jefferson-Morgan’s only other hit was a triple by Evan Kniha.
Losing pitcher John Woodward allowed five earned runs in four innings.
South Park 11, Waynesburg Central 1
No one expected this.
South Park, ranked No. 5 in the WPIAL Class 3A baseball playoffs, acted more like the top-ranked team against Waynesburg, coming away with an 11-1 shellacking in five innings.
“We had a couple days of really good practice,” said Waynesburg head coach Perry Cunningham. “I thought we prepared well. Sometimes, it’s just not your day. Some days you pitch the ball well, sometimes you can’t pitch it across the plate. Look, we can talk about the fact we’ve been in those situations before. There’s a little more intensity to playoff baseball.”
The big inning for South Park came in the fourth when the Eagles scored six runs on three hits with three runs coming on a bases-loaded single that was misplayed in the outfield.
“I don’t think I expected that type of (offensive) explosion,” said South Park coach Corey Fischer. “We’ve done this before. We hit really well against Ringgold and hit well against a Shady Side team. So, I think we knew what type of team we were playing.”
South Park struck first by scoring three runs after a 1-2-3 first inning by taking advantage of an infield error.
Ryan Spritznagel blasted a home run to left field to start the third inning.
South Park (14-5) moves on to the Class 3A semifinals. Waynesburg’s season comes to an end with a 16-4 record.
Waynesburg avoided the shutout by scoring a run in the bottom of the fifth inning. Jacob Stephenson walked, stole second and third and scored on Grant Pack’s single.
The Raiders’ only other hits were singles by losing pitcher Tyler Groves and
Derek Turcheck.
Groves gave up three earned runs in three innings with one walk and three strikeouts before being relieved by Austin Surber who surrendered five runs in two innings. Alex VanSickle pitched the final 1 â…” innings allowing one unearned run.