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Plum ends Lebo’s baseball season

By Eleanor Bailey almanac Sports Editor ebailey@thealmanac.Net 4 min read
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Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac

Brock McCormack (No. 31) of Mt. Lebanon watches as the Plum runner slips back safely to the bag after the throw to first arrived too late for a tag.

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Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac

Mark Linkowski delivers a pitch to the plate during Mt. Lebanon’s loss to Plum in the first round of the WPIAL Class 6A baseball playoffs.

A 9-12 record is hardly a successful season, but the Mt. Lebanon baseball team enjoyed a year to remember.

In the hardest section in the WPIAL, the Blue Devils finished even at 6-6. They qualified for the playoffs on the final day of the regular season with a thrilling win against archrival, Upper St. Clair as James Stocker tossed a 4-0 shutout.

“The Class of 2018 will never forget how the regular season ended,” assured Lebo manager Patt McCloskey. He noted how the Blue Devils were coming off losses to Bethel Park, 1-0, and Peters Township, 5-4, the four days before the showdown with the Panthers.

“Those were two of the toughest defeats ever,” McCloskey said. “Everything was on the line. In our last home game, we beat USC to make the playoffs. That’s a pretty good memory for the seniors to take with them.”

In addition to Stocker, there were 11 other seniors on the squad. Mark Linkowski, Spencer Curran and Brock McCormack shared pitching duties with Stocker and all but Curran played first base when not on the mound. Alex Zigarovich started at shortstop. Ethan Cuccarese was an all-section third baseman while Matt Dalesandro drew all-section honors in the outfield.

Outfielders Cam Kennedy, Finn Dugan, catcher Christian George and designated hitter Mark Palmerine, a second-team all-section selection, and Tyler Romanias rounded out Lebo’s list of upcoming graduates.

Four will continue their playing careers: Curran at Seton Hill; Romanias at Washington and Jefferson College; McCormack at John Carroll, George at Otterbein College.

Cuccarese batted .379 with a .500 slugging percentage with six doubles and one triple. He scored eight runs and drove in 10.

Despite playing with a torn labrum, Dalesandro had 11 assists from center field. In addition, he broke Ian Happ’s stolen base record, with 18 swipes in 19 attempts.

When Happ, who is in his second season with the Chicago Cubs, learned his record had been broken, he sent Dalesandro an autographed base taken from Wrigley Field. In his note, Happ wrote “records are made to be broken. Congratulations on the Mt. Lebanon stolen base record. Great season.”

“That speaks to how special Ian is,” said McCloskey, who coached the major leaguer. “What a great guy to take the time to do something for a kid he never met.”

Because of Lebo’s graduation rate, McCloskey, himself, will meet pretty much a new group of players. The Blue Devils return just two starters.

Sophomore Dante Borris batted fourth in the line-up while junior Paul Linkowski started behind the plate for most of the season.

Junior Justin Duda contributed as an infielder and McCloskey says he will be an important player next year. Sophomore outfielder Eddie Kubit gained a lot of experience and should be ready to play a more vital role on the team in 2019.

Sophomore Jack Palmerine, Colin Dalson and Cam Knox saw considerable innings of work. The sophomores all play the infield.

They will all look to reverse Lebo’s finish. The Blue Devils dropped out of the WPIAL Class 6A playoffs when they succumbed to Plum, 3-1, on May 15 at North Allegheny.

A two-run single from Pete Zullo in the first inning scored Marcus Cestra and Don Carlisano. Both had singled to start the game for the Mustangs. Ryan Kircher’s sacrifice fly scored Plum’s third run in the third after two base hits and sacrifice bunts moved the runners into scoring position.

The Blue Devils put 11 men on base but were unable to generate more than one run because of two pickoffs and one double play.

“Unfortunately we made a few mistakes that cost us at various points in the game,” McCloskey said.

For McCloskey, his greatest challenge now is patience. He and the Blue Devils must wait until next year.

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