South Fayette season ends with back-to-back losses
South Fayette’s thrilling baseball season came to an end when the Lions took a final spill against Hollidaysburg, 10-0, in the first round of the PIAA Class 5A tournament.
The defeat was the Lions’ second straight and came on the heels of their loss to Upper St. Clair, 3-2, in the WPIAL championship contest played at EQT field in Washington.
The Lions finished 14-11 overall. They were Section 2 runners-up to Moon before embarking on their playoff run.
As the No. 10 seed, South Fayette beat Franklin Regional, 8-2, No. 2 Penn-Trafford, 11-10, and No. 3 Thomas Jefferson, 3-2, to reach the District 7 finals and qualify for the PIAA tournament.
On June 1, the Lions faced the formidable Golden Tigers and their ace Vince Boland. In pitching a one-hitter, Boland raised his record to 9-0 and lowered his already stingy 0.83 ERA. In 55.1 innings, he has struck out 85, walked 27 and scattered 31 hits.
Evan Mizia had the lone hit for South Fayette against Boland.
After two scoreless innings, Hollidaysburg scored three runs in the third and tacked on two more in the fourth. The Golden Tigers exploded for five tallies in the bottom of the fifth and final frame.
Offensively, Ty McGough doubled and drove in two runs for Hollidaysburg. Cole Hartman and Mason Mierley both clubbed two hits. Hartman drove in two runs while Mierley had an RBI and a double.
With the win, the Golden Tigers improved to 21-2 overall. They were the District 6 champions after beating Central Mountain, 7-3, in the title tilt.
In South Fayette’s district final on May 27, Bo Stover provided the biggest thrill when he clubbed a solo home run. The fourth-inning strike provided the Lions a 1-0 advantage but Upper St. Clair responded with two runs in the top of the fifth and the game winner in the seventh.
Trey Skeen scattered five hits, struck out one and walked one before yielding to Mizia after facing one batter in the seventh.
Though the Panthers edged ahead, 2-1, the Lions tied the game in the bottom of the fifth.
For the Lions, Colton Cloherty had two hits and an RBI. Skeen, Stover and Mizia also had base hits in the loss while Cody Bungert and Luca Goia each reached base on walks.
The Lions graduate Bungert, Stover, Cloherty, Ryan Speer, Jacob Bostian and Bennett Scheel from their starting lineup but return Skeen, Goia, RJ Borgesi, Mizia, and Jordan Harris.
Among the other seniors on the roster included: Ben Willy, Noah Urso, Brad Bauman and Isaac Jutca.
South Fayette head coach Marc “Bubba” Snider credited his players for their fight throughout the season.
“This is the best group of young men I’ve coached in my entire life,” he said. “Nobody gave them a chance. We were picked to finish last or second to last in our section, but we just competed.”
Snider shouldered the blame for the loss in the WPIAL championship but credited the Panthers and their coach Jeff Donati for the triumph.
“I wasn’t good enough,” he said. “My kids were good enough. There were multiple things that I could’ve done differently in this game that would’ve put our team in a better position to win. I as the head coach take 100-percent of the responsibility for this loss.”