JACKSON TWP — Eric Semega believes his stable of pitchers will consistently keep his Seneca Valley baseball team in games this season.

The offense, on the other hand, is a work in progress.

Thursday afternoon, Semega watched two of his pitchers — juniors D.J. Alway and Andrew Funovits — allow no hits through the first seven innings against Mt. Lebanon.

But the Raiders had tallied just one run on five hits to that point and the action continued into extra innings.

The Blue Devils’ first hit of the game was Matt Dalesandro’s double that led off the eighth. With one out, he stole third base, then raced home after Nate Bayer’s sacrifice fly. It proved to be the deciding run in Mt. Lebanon’s 2-1 win at Raider Field.

“Our pitchers have a no-hitter into the eighth inning,” Semega said. “We should be winning games like this.”

Seneca Valley’s pitching has been superb through three games, but the Raiders have a 1-2 record to show for it.

“Coach Semega is the best in the WPIAL at developing pitchers,” said Mt. Lebanon coach Pat McClosky. “Their two pitchers dominated us today. It’s not like we were hitting a lot of hard balls for outs, either. But we got the opportunity at the end of the game.”

Thanks to Alway and Funovits, Mt. Lebanon’s chances were few and far between. Alway worked five innings with three strikeouts and two walks. The one run he did allow was scored amid controversy.

Alway seemed to be headed for an easy start to the game, but after two outs in the top of the first, he walked David Abbondanza and Nick Callender.

Christian George then hit a groundball to third base, where Mark Trotta fielded it and threw to second base to force out Callender. Raider second baseman Tyler Smith appeared to catch the ball and step on the bag well before the baserunner arrived, but the umpire ruled that he never touched the base.

The sequence allowed Abbondanza to score.

“It is what it is,” said Semega. “I disagreed with it (the call), but that is not why we came out on the losing end. We had opportunities.”

The most notable of those came in the bottom of the fourth inning. Against Mt. Lebanon starter Andrew Smith, Joey Kozlina drew a leadoff walk and Trotta singled to put runners at first and second.

Justin Dattoli laid down a sacrifice bunt that advanced the runners, but the Raiders were unable to take the lead when Cameron Vozel and Alway both grounded out.

“I’m not going to take anything away from our guys in that situation. They competed, but we just didn’t get the barrel on the bat when we needed to,” Semega said.

The lack of offense tagged Alway with a no-decision. He retired 10 straight batters, a stretch that spanned the first inning to the fourth, and ended only because of a fielding error that allowed Nick Bonidie to reach base to start the fifth.

Pitching just four varsity innings last year, Alway is looking for more time on the mound this spring.

“Hitters have trouble with my fastball,” he said. “And a lot of the time, they can’t handle my change-up.

“I felt good after five innings and I wanted to stay in the game,” he added. “I had surgery on my right arm last fall and Coach Semega is saving me.”

Funovits experienced no trouble against Mt. Lebanon’s lineup over his first two innings, setting down the first six batters he faced with ease.

Smith was rewarded with the complete-game victory for the Blue Devils. He allowed one run on five hits, striking out just two, but he walked only one.

“Our best pitcher, James Stocker, is out for the season with a knee injury,” said McClosky. “We’ve turned to Andrew. He threw 30 innings last year and got some big outs for us. He’s a special kid. What he does, he does very well.”

Against Seneca Valley, that was keeping the Raiders off the bases for much of the game. SV’s lone run came in the bottom of the first when Kozlina’s double off the right-field fence scored Brett Steinle.

Mt. Lebanon 100 000 01 — 2 1 1

Seneca Valley 100 000 00 — 1 5 2

W: Andrew Smith 8 IP (2K, 1BB). L: Andrew Funovits 3 IP (3K, 0BB).

Mt. Lebanon (2-2): Nate Bayer RBI, Matt Dalesandro 2B R

Seneca Valley (1-2): Tyler Smith 1B, Brett Steinle 1B R, Mike Collins 1B, Joey Kozlina 2B RBI, Mark Trotta 1B

Today: Chartiers Valley at Seneca Valley