Familiar finalist
Dominant pitching, supported by an offense that just didn't let up.
That's the manner in which Seneca Valley's baseball team clinched its third consecutive appearance in the WPIAL Class AAAA title game.
For the second straight game, junior pitcher Connor Coward shut out a playoff opponent, while Carson Kessler's solo home run in the top of the fifth inning highlighted a 12-hit attack in the Raiders' 6-0 semifinal win over Pine-Richland Tuesday night at Pullman Park.
“The bottom line is Seneca Valley was the better team tonight,” said Rams' coach Kurt Wolfe.
SV (18-3) will face North Allegheny, a 3-0 winner over Hempfield, in the district title game at Consol Energy Park at a date and time to be determined.
Six days after holding Bethel Park scoreless on just one hit in the quarterfinal round, Coward gave up four hits against the Rams, striking out eight and walking two.
“We hit the ball for him today,” said SV coach Eric Semega. “When you get run support, it gives a pitcher more confidence. It gives him some leeway in case he's not as sharp, but Connor did a great job. He started to get tired at the end, but battled through it.”
Coward threw 104 pitches, 70 of them for strikes.
The closest Pine-Richland came to plating a run came in the bottom of the fourth inning when, trailing 4-0, the Rams received a leadoff double from David Laylock. The second baseman advanced to third base on Daane Berezo's flyout, the second out of the inning. But Coward got Shane Heim to ground out to end the threat.
“We averaged 18 baserunners per game this year,” said Wolfe. “Today, we had six. Hats off to him (Coward). He pitched a great game.”
Coward was aided by a familiarity with the Rams' lineup.“I've faced a lot of their hitters before and I knew what they were capable of,” he said. “Their 1-6 batters are very tough and I knew that I had to keep the ball low.”Coward's teammates staked him to a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Kessler's two-out single to right brought home courtesy runner Johnny Brittner.Though he escaped further damage in the first, Rams' starter Marcus Colella was forced to throw 27 pitches in the frame. The Raiders tagged him for three more runs in the fourth as Alex Hajduk's run-scoring double and a pair of RBI-singles from Dorogy and Brad Gresock all came with two outs.“He was getting behind a lot of the hitters and had a lot of two-ball counts,” Wolfe said of Colella. “Seneca Valley started to get confidence and Coward got in his groove.”“Six runs, I couldn't have asked for more support,” said Coward. “It was just hit after hit today.”Though it wasn't the final run scored by the Raiders, Kessler's home run served as an exclamation point.“He grooved me a fastball,” Kessler said. “You can't pass that up.”Coward joined the offensive production when he tripled to start the sixth and scored on Hajduk's flyout, capping the scoring.Note: Pine-Richland (17-5) will face Hempfield (19-4) in a consolation game that will determine the third and final team from the WPIAL to earn a berth into the PIAA Class AAAA tournament.Seneca Valley 100 311 0 — 6 12 1Pine-Richland 000 000 0 — 0 4 0W: Connor Coward 7 IP (8K, 2BB). L: Marcus Colella 7 IP (5K, 2BB).Seneca Valley (18-3): Jonathan Dorogy 3-1B R RBI, Brad Gresock 1B RBI, Sam Fragale 1B, Carson Kessler 1B HR 2RBI, Jason Martin 1B, Zach Spangler 1B, Connor Coward 1B 3B R, Alex Hajduk 2B R 2RBI, Johnny Brittner R, Dan Barna RPine-Richland (17-5): David Laylock 2B, Jamie Switalski 1B, Shea Sullivan 1B, J.T. Riley 2BNext: Seneca Valley vs. North Allegheny, WPIAL Class AAAA Championship, Consol Energy Park, date and time TBD
