Mt. Lebanon solidifies baseball playoff plans
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Derrick Shields brings the heat to the plate during Mt. Lebanon’s 6-3 win against Baldwin.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Shortstop Matt Delvaux makes the throw to first base. During Mt. Lebanon’s 6-3 victory against Baldwin, Delvaux also contributed an RBI-double in the first frame and a run-scoring single in the the sixth.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac.
Tanner Donati makes contact for a hit during Mt. Lebanon baseball action against Baldwin. In a 9-7 extra-inning win against the Highlanders, Donati socked two home runs.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Third baseman Jack Smith is Mt. Lebanon’s leading hitter with a .447 batting average. The Harvard recruit is also 1-1 on the mound with 31 strikeouts and two saves in 16.66 innings.
Mt. Lebanon tightened its grip on the Section 2 lead in WPIAL Class 6A baseball with back-to-back victories against Baldwin.
The Blue Devils stood atop the section standings with a 7-1 record heading into their two-game showdown with Upper St. Clair.
Lebo will wrap up section action visiting the Panthers on May 2 at Boyce-Mayview Park. The first pitch is at 7 p.m. On May 3, the Blue Devils host USC at 4:15 p.m. at Clint Seymour Field, located off Cedar Boulevard.
A sweep of the Panthers would assure the Blue Devils a high seed in the playoffs but that is not the primary concern of head coach Patt McCloskey.
“We are in the playoffs and that’s the most important thing,” he said. “Seeding for the playoffs is absolutely irrelevant.”
That is because Lebo has faced all four of its possible first-round opponents. The Blue Devils have a wins against Pine-Richland, 3-1, North Allegheny, 2-1, but losses to Seneca Valley, 10-2, Butler, 3-1.
“We’ve seen all four of those teams from the North section this year, and they are all very very good,” McCloskey said. “It doesn’t matter where you are seeded, you are going to play an exceptionally strong team from the North in the first round.
“I’m very excited for our kids to have the opportunity to compete in the postseason,” he added.
An extra-inning triumph, 9-7, against Baldwin on April 25 at Wallace Field in Whitehall, coupled with a 6-3 victory against the Highlanders the following day at Clint Seymour Field, provided that change for the Blue Devils.
In the eight-inning affair, the Blue Devils trailed the Highlanders, 6-2, going into the sixth when Derrick Shields smacked a bases-loaded double to tie the game.
Tanner Donati, who homered in the first inning, clubbed another roundtripper in the top of the eighth while Shields smashed a two-run homer.
Matthew Delvaux earned the win in relief.
Shields earned the win on the mound during the three-run victory. He yielded to Evan Rossi, who struck out five in three innings of relief.
Offensively, Shields and Delvaux drilled run-scoring doubles in a two-run first inning. AJ Settler swiped second and third, then scored on a wild throw on the play in the second inning.
In the sixth, Lebo racked up three more runs. Rossi and David Shields singled before two runners reached base on errors. Rocky Stacy and Delvaux provided RBI singles.
“The section is so ultra competitive that your goal every year is just to have a chance to control your own destiny to make the playoffs going into the final series,” McCloskey said. “We accomplished that goal.”
“It’s been a very competitive, balanced year. We could have easily lost all of our section victories because they have been extremely close contests. The kids have done a great job battling back. We’ve had some hard-fought losses which only made us tougher and we have responded to adversity.”
Jack Smith has been one of the responders. A Harvard recruit, he leads the team in batting with a .447 average. He is tied with Tyler Smith a team-high 11 runs.
Smith, who has driven in six, also was tied for the lead on the pitching staff with David Shields with 31 strikeouts. He owns a 2.70 ERA.
Donati ranks second on the team in hitting with a .435 average. With six doubles, two triples and two homers, he maintains a team-high .783 slugging percentage.
Donati also is tops in RBI with 20. Delvaux and Derrick Shields follow with 11 and 10 RBI respectively.
While Derrick and David Shields as well as Delvaux are undefeated on the mound, Lebo has also benefited from the pitching efforts of Rossi, Smith, Tommy Schubert, Owen Mitchell, Brock Stacy and Charlie Hornburg.
Offensively, the Blue Devils have received strong performances from Joey Daniels (.478 on-base percentage), Tyler Smith (.488), Delvaux and Derrick Shields.
Settler, Paul Connolly, Eli Heidenreich, Quinn Van Dessen, Caleb Weidemann, Benny Hornburg, Tommy Schubert, Nolan Smith and Stacy have also contributed to Lebo’s success this spring.
“Overall, I couldn’t ask for a greater effort from our kids,” McCloskey said. “It’s been a tremendous honor to watch them grow as competitors.
“I’m grateful that we will have an opportunity to compete in the playoffs, and I’m grateful to coach a bunch of kids that realize we need to put in a lot of work to be better by the time the playoffs start.”