Pine-Richland ends Mt. Lebanon baseball season
Mt. Lebanon ended the 2017 high school baseball season on a sour note, playing one of its worst games defensively and falling to No. 1 Pine-Richland, 6-1. However disappointed the Blue Devils were with the defeat, they were delighted with their 14-9 campaign, particularly after starting behind the eight ball without their No. 1 pitcher. Because of a congenital condition that caused an injury to his knee, James Stocker, the standout quarterback for the Blue Devils, was sidelined for the year. He will be available in the fall for football.
“We had a great run,” said Patt McCloskey after the May 24 loss to the Rams in the WPIAL 6-A semifinal game played at North Allegheny. “To overcome losing your No. 1 pitcher and still make the playoffs, and then go on and get to the Final Four is a testament to how determined our guys were to win. Even if we hadn’t gotten this far, it would not diminish in any capacity how much fun this year was for me and how much I enjoyed working with these players,” McCloskey continued.
McCloskey was gratified to see so many of his seniors make significant contributions, especially when many of them had little or no varsity playing experience prior to this spring. Nick Callender started behind the plate, Andrew Smith started on the mound against the Rams, Nick Shaub (third), David Abbondanza (first) started in the infield and Nate Bayer and Eric Kraus roamed the outfield. Seniors Dan Hughes, Joe Postufka, James Perotti and Hunter Christian also contributed.
Against the Rams, however, the Blue Devils ran into a buzz saw on the mound and it wasn’t Virginia Tech recruit Ryan Okuda, who is 7-0 with 60 strikeouts this season. Senior southpaw Tom Zbezinski shut down the Blue Devils. He pitched 6 1/3 frames and struck out nine. He had a no-hitter going until Shaub socked a two-out double in the fourth frame. Lebo tagged reliever Maz Harpiani for a run in the top of the seventh. After Smith and junior Alex Zigarovich tagged singles and Bayer walked to load the bases, lead-off hitter Matt DAlesandro, a junior, was hit by a pitch to drive in the lone Lebo run.
On Zbezinski’s performance, McCloskey said, “(Tom) totally dominated us. He had three pitches working and was really on. McCloskey added that he thought it was the “best pitched game” the Blue Devils had seen all year. “I thought we had been hitting well going into this game, but he totally shut us down offensively.”
Lebo also had been playing top-notch defense during the playoffs. The Blue Devils upset No. 5 Hempfield, 5-0, in their post-season opener. In the quarterfinals, Lebo upended section rival Bethel Park, 6-0. While Mark Linkowski tossed a no-hitter and a three-hitter in the triumphs, the Lebo defense turned three double plays against the Hawks and handled 12 ground balls during the shutout.
Against Pine-Richland, however, the Blue Devils committed several errors that contributed to unearned runs. Only Jacob Maggi (RBI-triple) and Craig Kunkel (double) smacked extra-base hits.
“We had played perfect defense the first two rounds, not only making routine plays, but also making great plays,” McCloskey explained. “We didn’t play poorly, but we certainly didn’t match our performance of the first two rounds.”
Section action prepared the Blue Devils for their playoff run. They had finished behind undefeated Canon-McMillan in the standings.
“Nine of our 12 section games were extremely close and decided late in the game,” McCloskey said. “This certainly helped prepare us for the playoffs and these types of games. It’s always tough to end the year with a loss,” he continued, “but in no way does it diminish what I feel the 2017 team accomplished.”
In addition to Stocker and Linkowski as well as D’Alesandro and Zigarovich, the Blue Devils will return underclassmen: Nick Bonidie, Finn Dugan, Ethan Cuccarese, Tyler Romanias, Dante Borris, Mark Palmerine, Christian George, Spencer Curran, Brock McCormack and Cam Kennedy to the 2018 roster.