Raiders suffer key loss at Charleroi
CHARLEROI — Charleroi bounced back from a lethargic effort in a loss to Beth-Center Monday with a key Section 2-AA baseball win Wednesday over Waynesburg Central, 6-0.
Pitcher Josiah Fisher cemented himself as the ace of the Charleroi staff with another impressive effort as he struck out 12 batters and held the Raiders to four hits while going the distance.
“Josiah pitched well, like he has done all year,” Charleroi coach Luke Mollis said. “I am happy with how we played after playing terrible against Beth-Center.
“We responded well and had some timely hits early.”
Waynesburg coach Scott VanSickle was impressed with what he saw from Fisher but also likes the fight in his young team that had seven underclassmen in the lineup.
“The last time we faced Fisher, we swung at everything but today we battled a little bit more but couldn’t put the ball in play,” he said. “We will continue to work and get better.”
Charleroi scored five of its runs in the first two innings and cruised from there behind Fisher.
In the first inning, Sam Miceli singled in two runs to get the Cougars on the board.
They followed with three runs in the second on singles by Hunter Perry, Fisher and Josh Mavilla, and were also aided by a key Waynesburg error.
For the game, the Raiders committed three errors and VanSickle pointed out the mistakes.
“When you have that many errors, it is going to hurt you,” he said. “We have to keep battling and the younger guys will have to learn to become leaders as we only have a few games left.”
For Mollis and the Cougars, they moved one step closer to the program’s first playoff berth since the 2008 season.
“Right now we are in third place but there are games to play,” Mollis said. “We know what is in front of us.”
Charleroi is at first-place Brownsville Friday.