Raiders win fourth section game in a row
MEADOWLARK PARK — After losing its section opener to Keystone Oaks, 16-3, a couple of weeks ago, there was a lot of questions around the Waynesburg Central baseball program.
When dealt with such a hard setback, there’s only two directions a squad can go.
The Raiders have since turned things around and now have won their fourth straight Section 3-AAA game after a 7-0 victory over Charleroi Tuesday afternoon at Meadowlark Park.
“Pitching has carried us in this winning streak,” Waynesburg coach Jamie Moore said. “The loss against Keystone Oaks definitely hurt our pride and it was just one of those games that got away from us. We were a better team than that. We realized we had to rally around each other and focus on the fundamentals.”
Waynesburg is now a half game ahead of Keystone Oaks, Beth-Center and McGuffey in the section. The Raiders (4-1, 5-3) travel to Beth-Center on Wednesday in a key section game.
Luke Robinson pitched a stellar game, tossing six scoreless innings and allowing just three hits with nine strikeouts and no walks on 89 pitches.
“I think Luke got stronger as the game went along,” Moore said. “When he is on, he is going to be tough to beat. I think he thrives in those types of games for us. He elevated his play and I thought his fastball had a lot of movement on it.”
The Cougars (1-3, 3-5) had some chances early to tie the score, but left four runners on base over two innings and struggled in the field throughout the loss.
“Our defense has struggled the whole season,” Charleroi coach Luke Mollis said. “Errors and inconsistency on the mound has killed us the whole spring. We gave them that big inning and we just couldn’t rebound from it. When you are against an ace like Robinson, you are hoping it will be low-scoring and you can still be in the game late.”
After the visitors went down in order to start the game, Waynesburg grabbed a 2-0 lead in the bottom half of the inning with a two-run single by Robinson.
Charleroi had runners on second and third base with one out in the third, but Robinson escaped the inning without any damage with a strikeout and a fly out to right.
Once again the Cougars looked like they would strike in the fourth inning with two runners in scoring position and one out, but Waynesburg’s ace was able to get out of the jam with back-to-back strikeouts.
“We just couldn’t push a run across in those innings,” Mollis said. “If we got a run there in either inning that could have changed the complexion of the game. Give credit to Robinson and his defense. They made plays when we couldn’t.”
Moore also pointed out to those two innings being a huge momentum swing.
“Those are the little things you have to do if you want to win in this section,” Moore said. “To get out of those two innings without giving up a run is huge. I think it gave Luke a lot of confidence on the mound and he was rolling those final two innings.”
The Raiders broke the game open with five runs in the bottom of the fourth.
Justin Goodman reached base on an infield error and his courtesy runner, Nick Zator, would later score on a passed ball.
Later in the fourth, Trevor Stephenson and Tyler Switalski were awarded home plate after a pair of balks by Charleroi. An RBI double by Kyle Blasco and a RBI single by Kyle Shriver closed out the inning for Waynesburg.
“We were patient and just went station to station in that inning,” Moore said. “We worked the count and looked for the right pitch. We got some timely hits too, and that’s what you have to do if you want to break open an inning.”
Switalski pitched a scoreless seventh with a strikeout to preserve the shutout win.
Keaton Riley was tagged with the loss for Charleroi, going 3.2 innings and allowing five runs on three hits with four strikeouts and six walks.
The Cougars host Southmoreland on Wednesday.