Top-seeded Indiana knocks off Leopards
MONROEVILLE 鈥� Belle Vernon delivered the first blow but Indiana came back with a flurry to knock the Leopards out of the WPIAL Class 4A baseball playoffs.
Four pitchers combined to throw a two-hitter and the top-seeded Indians pounded out 13 hits in defeating Belle Vernon 11-2 on a chilly, rainy Tuesday night at Gateway High School.
Tim Birch had three hits, including a double, and two RBIs and Carter Pull also had three hits and two RBIs for Indiana which advanced to the district final against third-seeded Elizabeth Forward on either May 27 or 28 at the Washington Wild Things EQT Park.
The Indians also got three RBIs from Rocco Consentino, two hits and two RBIs from Sully Van Hoose and two hits and an RBI from Mark Collinger as well as a double each from Charlie Manzi and Caden Force.
鈥淭here蘑菇视频 a reason these guys are where they鈥檙e at,鈥� Leopards coach Tony Watson said. 鈥淭hat蘑菇视频 a great team. They just kept bringing in guys throwing upper 80s one after another and we didn鈥檛 have an answer for them today.鈥�
Van Hoose started for Indiana and allowed one run in two innings. Winning pitcher Ryan Okopal gave up one run over two innings, Brady Oakes followed with two scoreless frames and Collinger finished up by striking out the side in the seventh.
Belle Vernon took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Kole Doppelheuer walked, stole second and scored on Connor Bergman蘑菇视频 single to center.
Indiana tied in the bottom of the inning on Collinger蘑菇视频 run-scoring single then surged ahead with a six-run third inning that knocked Leopards starting pitcher Lucas Judy from the game. The frame included four hits, two errors and a walk.
Belle Vernon made it 7-2 with a run in the fourth. Cole Matusik walked, went to second when Seth Tomalski was hit by a pitch, took third when Alonzo Wade hit into a force out and scored on Zach Plymire蘑菇视频 single to center.
The Indians added three more runs in the bottom of the inning off relievers Ian Porter and Matusik to go up 10-2, then tacked on one more run in the sixth.
鈥淲e had to make a few pitching changes,鈥� Watson said. 鈥淭hese guys were hitting everything today. They were squaring balls up, hitting gap to gap. We really didn鈥檛 have an answer for them on the mound. Lucas had some command issues the first couple innings.鈥�
Judy took the loss, allowing seven runs on seven hits with two walks and five strikeouts in 2 鈪� innings, although only one of the runs was earned.
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 put the ball in play today like we normally do,鈥� Watson said. 鈥淭he errors (four) hurt us.鈥�
Plymire was 1 for 3 with an RBI and a stolen base and Tomalski reached base in all three of his plate appearances with two walks and a hit by pitch.
Watson lauded the Indians.
鈥淚 tip my hat to those guys,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey played a solid game all the way around.鈥�
The season isn鈥檛 over for Belle Vernon which can still qualify for the PIAA tournament if it can defeat Central Valley in the third-place consolation game with the day, site and time for that matchup to be determined.
鈥淚 told them to wash it off, keep their heads up, you had one of the best years in school history as far as baseball goes and that I was proud of them and I was glad to see they didn鈥檛 quit,鈥� Watson said. 鈥淭hey kept going. I told them not to lose focus for the next round.
鈥淚 said you guys made a good run in the WPIAL. You鈥檝e still got one more game where we can get into the state tournament and maybe make some noise there. I鈥檓 hoping we can regroup and get back to it.鈥�
The Leopards have ended several program droughts the past two seasons, winning a section championship for the first time in 12 years in 2024, winning a playoff game (7-0 against Derry in the first round and then 5-0 over Beaver in Monday蘑菇视频 quarterfinals) for the first time in 13 years this season and also reaching the WPIAL final four for the first time since 2012.
鈥淲e鈥檙e certainly building. I mean Rome wasn鈥檛 built in a day,鈥� Watson said. 鈥淚鈥檝e been head coach here five years and we鈥檙e seeing some progress from the fruits of our labor, the hard work, the winter workouts, the fall games.
鈥淲e got a close-knit group of guys here. They pull for one another. That蘑菇视频 what really does it to get us to this point.鈥�