Upper St. Clair edges South Fayette to win WPIAL title

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Jamie Gardner and Cooper Stutzman savor the sweet taste of victory as they chomp down on their gold medals after Upper St. Clair defeated South Fayette, 3-2, to claim the WPIAL Class 5A baseball championship.

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Nico D'Orazio hoists the WPIAL trophy while his teammates celebrate with members of the Upper St. Clair student body after a 3-2 victory against South Fayette in the Class 5A final.

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Bo Stover (11) of South Fayette gets a hero's welcome after slugging a home run in the bottom of the fourth inning of the WPIAL Class 5A baseball championship game.

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South Fayette players stare dejected during the medal ceremony after losing to Upper St. Clair in the WPIAL Class 5A championship game. 

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Max Dietrick hurls a fastball to the plate during WPIAL Class 5A championship action.

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Tyler Skeen brings the heat to the plate during WPIAL Class 5A championship action.

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Cody Bungert applies the tag at the plate for a putout during WPIAL Class 5A baseball championship action.

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Evan Mizia makes the catch in left field for South Fayette during the WPIAL Class 5A final.

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Nico D"Orazio raises his hands in jubilation as his teammate celebrates after Upper St. Clair defeated South Fayette, 3-2, for a WPIAL title.

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RJ Borgesi (19) of South Fayette gets the putout at first base against Nolan Wilson from Upper St. Clair during WPIAL Class 5A baseball championship action.

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For the first time since 1992, Upper St. Clair hoisted a WPIAL trophy in baseball when the Panthers edged South Fayette, 3-2, in the Class 5A championship game play May 27 at EQT Park in Washington.

“It’s unbelievable,” said USC manager Jeff Donati. “I’m just so happy for our kids. We talked about this the entire offseason and they believed it. They stuck together.”

The Panthers had faith in themselves even though they qualified for the playoffs on the last day of section action and won a tiebreaker to gain the No. 12 seed in the tournament. They also had lost twice to South Fayette, 17-6, and 7-6, earlier this spring.

“I am so happy for the kids. They left it all out there.”

So did the Lions, who finished runner-up to Moon in the section but were seeded No. 10 in the Class 5A tournament.

South Fayette coach Marc “Bubba” Snider credited his kids for their fight all the way to the end.

“This is the best group of young men I’ve coached in my entire life,” Snider said. “Nobody gave them a chance. We were picked to finish last or second to last in our section, but we just competed. All the credit to Coach Donati and Upper St. Clair. I have a lot of respect for him.

Snider took blame for the loss.

“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.”

USC pitcher Max Dietrick shouldered a major share for the victory. A three-year starter, Dietrick scattered four hits, walked two and struck out three.

“He was phenomenal,” Donati said. “He asked for the ball and that’s a huge moment. That kid did not flinch. It was incredible what he did against a very good hitting lineup.”

Bo Stover bats third in the lineup for the Lions and he did the biggest damage. He homered in the bottom of the fourth to propel South Fayette into the lead, 1-0.

USC erased that deficit and took the lead in the top of the fifth, scoring twice off South Fayette starter Trey Skeen, who retired the first 12 batters he faced before running into trouble.

Cooper Stutzman started the rally with a single to center field. He moved to second on a groundout and scored on a two-out single by Schroeck, who had two hits and two RBI in the game.

Schroeck then moved to third on a single by Luke Marchinsky and scored on Finn Baird’s infield single.

“I thought we’d comeback because we have hit all year,” Donati said. “While this is the lowest output (of runs) that we have had since maybe week one of the season, I knew we’d get to (Skeen) because of the average amount of hits we get in a game. Their kid was really good and my hats off to them but our lineup’s going to get to you at some point.”

Though the Lions answered with the tying run in the bottom of the fifth when Evan Mizia doubled and scored on a single by Colt Cloherty, the Panthers got to Skeen enough that he yielded to Mizia after giving up a lead-off double to Brooks York in the top of the seventh. Schroeck then singled home the game-winning run.

Skeen scattered five hits and struck out three in the loss. Skeen, like Stover and Mizia, had one hit in four plate appearances. Cloherty had two hits for the Lions.

With the win, USC improved to 13-9 overall. The Panthers play New Oxford, the fourth-place team in District 3, June 1 in the PIAA tournament opener

With the loss, South Fayette dropped to 14-10 overall. The Lions play District 6 champion Hollidaysburg also on June 1 in the first round of the state tournament.

The Class 5A state final is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. June 12 at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park on the Penn State University campus.