Missed opportunity costs Knoch in WPIAL semifinal
WEXFORD — Bases loaded with no outs.
It’s a chance for the team at the plate to have a big inning, possibly even be the difference in the outcome of the game.
Bill Stoops certainly thought so Tuesday night, though he’d much rather be on the other side of things.
His Knoch baseball team trailed West Mifflin, 3-1, in the sixth inning of a WPIAL Class 4A quarterfinal. The Knights had chased Titan starter Pierson Buck from the hill with Eli Sutton’s single and Isaac Roddy getting hit by a pitch.
West Mifflin’s reliever, Jake Walker, walked Luke DiSanti to load the bases.
But a pivotal rally for Knoch turned into a clutch escape act for the Titans as Walker struck out Jake Stallsmith, Logan Cypher and Luke Priester.
Walker had a much easier time with the Knights in the seventh, closing out West Mifflin’s 3-1 victory at North Allegheny High School.
“You have bases loaded with nobody out and you strike out three times,” Stoops said. “You find a way to put the bat on the ball, that’s the name of the game.”
Stoops was also not pleased with how his team’s half of the fifth inning ended.
The Knights had already pushed across their first run when Priester scored on Brady Wozniak’s groundout and were looking for more when West Mifflin faked an errant pick-off attempt to lure Angelo DeLeonardis off second base. He was tagged out to end the inning.
“That’s bush-league,” said Stoops. “If you have to do that to win, fine. But to me, that’s not baseball.”
West Mifflin (17-3) had taken a 2-0 lead in the first inning against Wagner, who surrendered a pair of run-scoring doubles to Walker and Derek Kleinhans.
Knoch (13-10) has a chance to reach the state playoffs. It will face Laurel Highlands in the WPIAL consolation game at a date, time and site to be determined.
“We’ll be ready,” said Stoops. “We’re practicing at 3:30 (Wednesday).”
Knoch 000 010 0 - 1 4 0
West Mifflin 200 010 x - 3 8 2
W: Pierson Buck 5+ IP (2K, 3BB). L: Jacob Wagner 3.1 IP (1K, 1BB).
Knoch: Angelo DeLeonardis 2-1B, Eli Sutton 1B, Jacob Wagner 1B
West Mifflin: Jake Walker 2B R RBI, Derek Kleinhans 2-2B 2RBI
