Mt. Lebanon prepared for playoff pressure
The WPIAL baseball postseason commence May 15 and Mt. Lebanon is well prepared to defend its Class 6A championship. In fact, they are no strangers to must-win situations they will face in the single-elimination tournament.
Because of an 0-8 start to the season, the Blue Devils needed to take two of three games against Central Catholic and Norwin to “save” their season. After that achievement, they swept Hempfield and Baldwin to clinch Section 2 runner-up honors with a 10-5 mark.
Canon-McMillan won the Section 2 banner with an 11-4 record,
“We have already faced elimination during the regular season,” said Lebo manager Patt McCloskey. “We have won multiple extra inning games. So we have been through a lot of pressure and adversity already.”
The Blue Devils have the added onus of being the defending Class 6A champions. However, this is nothing new and Lebo is prepared to make its run in an wide-open tournament
“The expectation to win each year is always the exact same,” McCloskey said.
“There is no favorite,” McCloskey added of the Class 6A bracket. “When you look at the scores, everybody has beaten everyone at some point this season.”
The Blue Devils flexed their muscles recently in their sweep of the Highlanders.
In a 4-1 victory, Matthew Delvaux recorded the win on the mound.
David Shields tossed a no-hitter and fanned 15 in 12-0 shutout. He backed up the performance with a big bat, clubbing a 3-run homer. He and Delvaux both drove in three.
Nate Girod tagged a walk-off single to secure the 3-2, eighth-inning triumph.
In addition to Delvaux (3-1) and Shields (3-1) with 1.14 and 1.13 respective ERA, Tyler Smith (2-1) headlines the pitching staff.
“We have gotten consistent pitching from all of them, particularly in all five section series games,” McCloskey said.
Offensively, Smith and Tanner Donati lead with 19 and 10 runs. Smith has nine RBI but Nolan Smith leads in that department with 14.
The top hitters are: Brock Stacy (.389), Shields (.367), Danny Clevenger (.364), Nolan Smith (.358), Delvaux (.333) and Tyler Smith (.316).