Wildcat baseball edged 4-3 by Bethel Park

By John Lipez

WOODWARD TOWNSHIP, PA – A rebuilding Central Mountain baseball team showed Monday the rebuilding is just about complete. A Wildcat team with nine underclassmen (including five sophomores) in the starting line-up went toe-to-toe with defending PIAA baseball champion Bethel Park before the visiting Black Hawks pulled out a 4-3 win.

The Black Hawks’ victory moved the Pittsburgh area school into the PIAA Class 5A quarterfinal round, their mark 18-4. Central Mountain ended the season with a 17-6 log and another District 6-8-9 championship.

The Wildcats got off to a slow start, the visitors using three singles, a walk and two errors to plate two unearned runs in the top of the first; Bethel Park added a third run in the third for a 3-0 lead. But momentum turned a bit at the game’s midpoint.

Senior Aaron Miller helped in that regard in the fourth inning. From leftfield he threw out a runner trying to score from second on a base hit to end a Bethel Park threat. In the bottom of the fourth he plated Central Mountain’s first run with an RBI single to make it a 3-1 game, scoring Cayde McCloskey who had singled earlier.

The Wildcats would tie things up at 3-3 in the bottom of the fifth: Nate Helms walked and Kevin Grenninger singled; both later moved up and would score on a two-RBI single from McCloskey.

The game stayed at 3-3 through six innings. The Wildcats got two runners on with one out in the bottom of that inning but could not plate the go-ahead run. Central Mountain struggled with runners in scoring position, leaving eight baserunners stranded.

Bethel Park scored what proved to be the winning run in the top of the seventh. Cody Keddes ripped a one-out double; after a flyout, Ben Hudson was hilt by a pitch. That ended the day on the pitch count rule for Wildcat starter Chase Brush. The CM junior, after a slow start, settled in and ended up going 6.2 innings, giving up 10 hits, striking out three, walking three and hitting one batter; only one of the four runs he surrendered was earned. Sophomore Brady Myers came on in relief and walked a batter to load the bases. A wild pitch then allowed the fourth BP run to score. Myers struck out the batter to end the inning but the Black Hawks had the lead.

Geddes set CM down in order in the bottom of the seventh to secure the win.

Curiously Bethel Park elected not to use their top pitcher, Evan Holewinski, who had been dominant in is team’s 1—0, nine-inning win over CM in the state semifinals a year ago.

McCloskey, Miller and Cru Stover each had two singles for the Wildcats, with one single each from Grenninger and Connor Foltz.

Wildcat Coach Mike Kramer had nothing but praise for his team, saying he was “extremely proud of the entire group.” He singled out his seniors, McCloskey, Miller, Ashton Probst and Zach Weaver, calling them “a very special group…(who) left a mark on the program, better than what they found.”

Kramer said he talked with his squad afterwards about the principles of never giving up and staying committed. He said his team did that on Monday, “They never gave up and battled to the end.” He said the willingness of squad members to accept their roles “made me proud” and the program has a promising future.

Game Notes:

Even in defeat, the Wildcats turned two nifty infield double-plays, Miller made a spectacular throw to catcher Nate Helms for his sweep tag nailing a Black Hawk trying to score, and Brush picked a BP runner off first.

The game was well attended at Lock Haven University’s Watkins Field.

BP   2 0 1 0 0 0 1 = 4-10-0

CM  0 0 0 1 2 0 0 =  3-8-5