Simply dominant
CRANBERRY TWP — Ethan Baer did not have to be dominant Thursday night. The pitcher was the recipient of 11 runs on 10 hits from his team’s offense.
But Seneca Valley’s right-hander put up some impressive numbers of his own, allowing just three hits and walking none in an 11-0, five-inning shutout of Pine Richland in a Butler County Area Baseball League elimination game at Graham Park.
“Ethan throws strikes and keeps his defense in the game,” said SV manager Matt Baic. “He started a lot of the at-bats off tonight with off-speed stuff and that was big.”
The victory sends SV to another elimination game. It will travel to Freeport Saturday, with the winner to face Butler Township in the championship round next week.
PR’s best scoring opportunity came in the top of the first inning. Austin Woodward had a two-out single and Noah Bender reached base on an error, which allowed Woodward to move to third.
But Baer then tallied the first of his three strikeouts, getting Branden Ansell looking at a third strike to end the threat.
Baer rarely pitched in high school and played mostly at third base.
“I did get to pitch an inning in a game we played at PNC Park,” said the 2021 SV graduate, “but we had some unbelievable talent pitching for us and I didn’t want to interfere with that. I have pitched for three travel teams.”
Baer allowed two more singles Thursday — to Matt Farmar in the second frame and Bender in the fourth. But SV turned three double-plays behind him.
“I just want to do my job and let my defense do its job. I have all the faith in the world in the guys behind me,” Baer said.
Having faith in SV’s bats is easy to do these days. They produced 13 runs in Tuesday’s win over East Butler and made it a very uncomfortable evening for PR (5-13), beginning with starter Ethan Wygant.
In the bottom of the second, Ethan Dunmire, Ben Blucher, Seth Baic and Ethan Staudt each singled in a run. The inning ended when Baic was thrown out at the plate, but the reprieve was brief.
SV (10-9) was back at it in the bottom of the third, with Zach Snyder leading off with a solo home run. Wygant walked three in the inning and was pulled in favor of Woodward, but SV plated four runs in the inning for an 8-0 lead.
Offense has been a strength for Matt Baic’s team for much of the season, scoring more than six runs in 12 of 19 games.
“Even when we were 2-6, I remember thinking: ‘The offense is there,’” he said. “We just had a string of bad luck.”
The scoring was capped in the bottom of the fourth. Gavin Zoelle singled in two runs and Dustin Horn’s base hit brought in another.
Pine Richland 000 00x x — 0 3 2
Seneca Valley 044 3xx x — 11 10 2
WP: Ethan Baer 5 IP (3K, 0BB); LP: Ethan Wygant 2.1 IP (1K, 3BB).
Pine Richland: Austin Woodward 1B, Noah Bender 1B, Matt Farmar 1B
Seneca Valley: Seth Baic 1B RBI, Ethan Staudt 2-1B R RBI, Zach Snyder HR 2R, Gavin Zoelle 1B R 2RBI, Dustin Horn 1B R RBI, Ethan Dunmire 1B 2R RBI, Ben Blucher 2-1B 2RBI, Conor Carney 1B
Saturday: Seneca Valley at Freeport
