The hitting combo of Brandon Bergstrom and Matt Waugaman worked twice for North Allegheny, then a third time.

Barely.

Waugaman's two-out double to left field plated Bergstrom from first base with the deciding run in the top of the 10th inning Friday as North Allegheny defeated Seneca Valley, 4-2, in a PIAA Class AAAA quarterfinal baseball game at Pullman Park.

“This was a fantastic high school baseball game,” North Allegheny coach Andy Maddix said. “Playing ball in our section is awesome. It may have taken a few years off my life, but I love it.

“Seneca Valley is a great team, a great program. They could have easily won this game. ... They could easily be state champions.”

The Raiders (19-5) grabbed a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first as Gianpaul Gonzalez drew a one-out walk and scored on Sam Fragale's triple to deep center. Fragale scored on Carson Kessler's ground ball to second.

But the Tigers used the Bergstrom-Waugaman duo to tie the game. Bergstrom beat out an infield single in the fourth and scored on Waugaman's triple to left. Bergstrom singled to center to begin the sixth, was bunted to second by James Meeker and scored on Waugaman's single to center.

Their third effort didn't go anywhere near as easily as the first two.

Bergstrom walked with one out in the 10th. With two outs, Waugaman doubled to left-center field. The ball was cut off in the outfield and the relay throw to the plate was up the third-base line a bit.

SV catcher Brad Gresock fielded the throw a moment before Bergstrom ran into him. Bergstrom rolled over the prone Gresock and put his hand on the plate as the umpire gave the safe signal.

“He was never able to tag me,” Bergstrom said. “I tried to avoid him, but my thigh hit him in the head. I hope he's OK.”

Gresock was attended to on the field by trainers for a few minutes. He was groggy as he got to his feet and was taken out of the game.

“It was a close play. ... The umpire made the right call,” SV coach Eric Semega said.

Jimmy Divosevic followed with an RBI single to left to extend the Tigers' lead to 4-2. Meeker retired the side in order in the Raiders' half of the 10th to complete yeoman's duty out of the bullpen.

Meeker worked 8 2-3 innings — relieving Mitch Machi with one out in the second — and wound up throwing 100 pitches, striking out four and allowing no walks.

“Mitch threw a great game for us in the WPIAL championship, but wasn't sharp today,” Maddix said. “I felt like we had to make a move when we did.

“James is our No. 3 pitcher in section play, but he's very dependable. We have a lot of depth on the mound and he would have thrown a lot more innings if he was playing for another team.”

Meeker took the mound after Machi hit Matt Rafferty and Brad Gresock consecutively with one out in the second. Rafferty was picked off second base by NA catcher Justin Dattilo.

Carson Kessler was picked off second by Dattilo with one out in the third. Alex Hajduk was picked off second by Meeker to end the fourth.

“Offensively, we gave them three outs we couldn't afford to give,” Semega said. “You can't make mistakes like that when you're playing against a quality team.

“We had scoring opportunities and we took ourselves out of them.”

The loss spoiled a stellar effort by SV junior right-hander Connor Coward. He worked the first eight innings, threw 113 pitches — 81 for strikes — and struck out 13 batters.

The only walk Coward gave up was an intentional one to Waugaman in the eighth.

“He's tough. He was virtually unhittable at the beginning of this game,” Maddix said.

Coward struck out the first four NA batters to begin the contest. He threw only two balls while doing so.

“Awesome. Connor was simply awesome,” Semega said. “He deserved to win this game.”

Jason Martin pitched the final two innings for the Raiders.

Bergstrom said his team breathed a sigh of relief when Coward finally left the mound.

“All we could do was try to scratch and claw out a couple of runs against him, try to hang in,” Bergstrom said. “He throws three pitches pretty much where he wants, he works the corners.

“That kid is very, very good.”

Seneca Valley ended its season with a four-game split against NA, also losing a 4-2 decision to the Tigers in the WPIAL championship game. The Raiders defeated NA by 3-2 scores twice in the regular season.

“The hurt will go away. The fun and the memories will stick around for a long time,” Semega said. “These kids have a lot to be proud of.”

Since its second loss to SV, North Allegheny (22-4) has won 10 straight games, outscoring its opponents 60-17 during that streak.

The Tigers play Lower Dauphin in the state semifinals Monday.

“This game came down to one play. It was an unfortunate play the way it happened,” Maddix said. “Our kid didn't have time to slide and they came together.

“Brad Gresock is not only a great baseball player, he's a great kid. We hope he's OK. We have a ton of respect for him and for their whole team.”

N.Allegheny 000 101 000 2 — 4 10 2Seneca Valley 200 000 000 0 — 2 7 0W: James Meeker 8.2IP (4K, 0BB). L: Jason Martin 2IP (0K, 0BB).North Allegheny (22-4): Brandon Bergstrom 3-1B 3-R, Matt Waugaman 3B 2B 1B 3-RBI, Jimmy Divosevic 2-1B RBI, Sean Fitzgerald 1B, Zach Woloszyk 1BSeneca Valley (19-5): Sam Fragale 3B RBI, Carson Kessler 2-1B RBI, Zach Spangler 2-1B, Connor Coward 1B, Matt Rafferty 1BMonday: PIAA Class AAAA Semifinals: North Allegheny vs. Lower Dauphin, 4 p.m., at Somerset