Mt. Lebanon beats Upper St. Clair to win WPIAL baseball title
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Mt. Lebanon defeated Upper St. Clair, 2-1, to capture the WPIAL Class 6A baseball championship.
By Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Jack Smith celebrates with manger Patt McCloskey after he pitched Mt. Lebanon to victory, 2-1, against Upper St. Clair in the WPIAL Class 6A championship game. Smith struck out 14 batters and scattered two hits. At the plate, he singled and scored the team’s first run.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
A.J. Stettler applies the tag on Ivory Travers for a putout during Mt. Lebanon’s 2-1 victory against Upper St. Clair in the WPIAL Class 6A championship game.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Jack Smith unleashes a pitch during WPIAL Class 6A championship action. The senior struck out 14 and scattered two hits in leading Mt. Lebanon to victory, 2-1, against Upper St. Clair.
Powered by the pitching of Jack Smith, Mt. Lebanon defeated Upper St. Clair, 2-1, and captured the WPIAL Class 6A baseball championship.
Smith struck out 14, scattered two hits and walked two in leading the Blue Devils to their first district title in 16 years and fifth in program history.
“I thought I pitched well,” Smith said modestly. “My curveball was looking good. I didn’t like my changeup much so I stuck to fastball-curveball and it worked out.”
The performance on May 31 at Wild Things Park in Washington was reminiscent of the effort by Chris Koutsavlis on the same day 20 years ago. In 2002, Koutsavlis tossed a no-hitter in PNC Park to guide the Blue Devils to victory against Blackhawk in the WPIAL Class 3A title game.
Between titles, Lebo owns only one championship, in 2006. They were runners-up in 2012 with Chicago Cub Ian Happ in the lineup, semifinalists in 2017 and first-round playoff losers the past two seasons.
The difference in winning in 2022 was the “competitiveness” of Smith and his teammates.
“Jack Smith has the intangibles. He’s not pitching in a warehouse. He’s not worried about a prospect ranking. He’s worried about winning. We’ve got 20 of those guys,” said Lebo coach Patt McCloskey.
“All that mattered was winning and doing whatever it takes. You can’t teach that competitiveness.”
As a 13-year-old playing North Allegheny in the Pony League World Series, Smith possessed that will to win.
“He was the exact same kid. “Gimme the ball, coach. I got this. They can’t touch me'” said McCloskey. “Jack is the most competitive kid I have ever coached. He has an edge. A ‘here I am, I’m going to beat you’ attitude.”
While Smith issued six strikeouts to the first seven batters he faced, the Harvard recruit staked Lebo to a 1-0 lead that held up until the fifth frame.
In the bottom of the first and with two outs, Smith tagged a single to right. Back-to-back singles by Tyler Smith and Derrick Shields followed to score Smith.
Though he surrendered a double to center field by Christian Wieczenski and a sacrifice by Charlie Eberle, Smith ended the USC threat with a flyout to Eli Heidenreich in left and a strikeout.
Smith also struck out the side in the fourth, although one batter advanced to first on the wild-pitch third strike.
In the fifth, USC produced the tying run. Brandon Liokareas walked and moved to second on a wild pitch. After two straight strikeouts by Smith, USC’s No. 9 hitter, Charlie Eberle, smacked a single to score Liokareas.
“We knew their ninth hitter was really hot,” McCloskey said. He added that when USC tied the game, Lebo regained a measure of reality.
Despite their 12-10 overall record, the Panthers beat North Allegheny and Butler in the playoffs to reach the title game. They had a pitcher equal to Smith as Joe Altvater fanned seven batters in 5{span class=”s1″}?{/span} innings. The senior scattered five hits.
“Those guys are pretty good, too,” he said. “They beat some of the best teams. We knew from the start we were in a battle.”
Lebo scored the game-winning run when Tyler Smith led off the bottom of the sixth with a triple and scored on a sacrifice fly to right by Shields.
“Tyler is another of those kids who are in the moment. He’s ‘I want to win now, I want to win this game. What I care about is Mt. Lebanon winning a championship.’ That’s Tyler,” said McCloskey.
“Derrick was so professional in his at-bat,” McCloskey continued. “We were going to try and trick our way into a run but Derrick was so cool. He’s a kid that says, ‘I’ll do what I have to do. He hit a decent fly ball and Tyler executed.
“I can’t say enough about these guys. Again they are winners. They want to win right now and they want to do what’s best for the team. That is so important.”
The Blue Devils did the important thing in the top of the seventh. They quelled the Panthers with defense to preserve the victory.
Shields snagged a line drive by Todd Lagoni for the first out at third base. Heidenreich caught a hard-hit fly ball to left by Tim Speer. Then Smith got his 14th strikeout for the final out of the game.
“I told Derrick that was the most athletic play he’s made in his life and he said, ‘Coach, I saved it for the end.’ Eli also makes a great play in the outfield. He’s athletic.”
So is Jack Smith. Like Heidenriech and their teammate, Joey Daniels, the starting center fielder, Smith was a member of Lebo’s WPIAL and PIAA championship football team this past school year.
“It’s a familiar feeling,” said Smith, who up until this winter had played basketball, too. “Just like football, we worked at it and we did it as a team.
“All we have been thinking about is the team, winning as a team, no individual accolades, nothing like that. We just wanted to win this championship.”
“It’s a great feeling,” he added. “It’s truly special.”
Bethel Park earned the third seed out of the WPIAL for the PIAA Class 5A baseball tournament when the Hawks defeated Thomas Jefferson, 6-0, in the consolation contest played May 31 at W&J’s Memorial Park.
Evan Holewinski struck out six in five frames while Ryan Walsh and Sebastian Schein pitched one inning each in relief.
Ryan Schmude and Bo Conrad drilled doubles. Schmude and David Kessler tagged two hits each while Nathan Vargo and Ben Hudson added two RBI to go along with their two hits.
Ryan Petras and Cody Geddes also drove in runs while Ray Altmeyer had a base hit.