Tornado humbled by home defeat
JD Costanzo got North Allegheny started at the plate — then never allowed Butler to do likewise.
The junior pitcher delivered a two-out, two-run triple to right in the first inning to give the Tigers the lead. He then threw six shutout innings at the Golden Tornado, striking out eight and limiting Butler to three singles in a 13-0 Section 1-6A baseball win Tuesday night at Michelle Krill Memorial Field at Historic Pullman Park.
“I thought JD was electric tonight,” North Allegheny coach Andrew Heck said. “When he’s locked in like that and throwing strikes, he can be really tough. There was a lot of life to his fastball in this game.”
Costanzo threw only 77 pitches in six frames, 49 for strikes. The Tigers’ Nicolas Varlotta struck out two in completing the shutout.
“They just took it to us tonight,” Butler coach Josh Forbes said. “We have to forget about this game and move on. We’ve been beaten badly before and bounced back.
“Baseball can be a very humbling sport.”
The two teams play again at 7 p.m. Wednesday at North Allegheny. They conclude the three-game series at 5:30 p.m. Friday at Pullman Park.
“I liked our approach tonight,” Heck said. “This is the way we need to play.”
The Tigers (4-1, 1-0) played their section opener Tuesday. They took a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the second inning when Butler (4-4, 2-2) threatened for the first time in the second frame.
Noah Collins singled to center to begin the inning and Mac Schnur reached on a bunt single. But James Desmond grounded into a double play and Mavrik Clement struck out to end the threat.
Liam McElroy tripled to right with one out in the fourth, but was tagged out by catcher Ian Zahorcak while trying to score on a wild pitch. The ball caromed right back to the catcher on the play.
“Mac kept us in the game for a while, but we missed our opportunities to punch back there,” Forbes said.
Schnur threw 105 pitches in five innings, striking out eight. He allowed five runs, four of them scoring after two outs. Costanzo delivered a two-out run-scoring single in the third inning, plating Spencer Barnett, who tripled to center earlier in the inning.
The Tigers scored eight runs in the final two innings, taking advantage of 10 walks during those two frames. While Costanzo threw 77 pitches, Butler pitchers tossed 186.
“When those numbers are like that ... this type of game usually happens,” Forbes said.
Barnett reached base in all five of his plate appearances, scoring twice. David Posey had a double and three RBI, Harron Lee a pair of singles and Andrew Dougherty two runs scored as North Allegheny mustered 11 hits.
“Schnur is a very good pitcher,” Heck said. “He tries to make you chase pitches out of the zone. We did a good job of staying disciplined and making him throw pitches in the zone.
“This was a good win, but it’s one game. We have to pick up where we left off Wednesday night at our place ... same focus, same energy, same everything.”
North Allegheny 302 003 5 — 13 11 0
Butler 000 000 0 — 0 4 1
WP: JD Costanzo 6IP (8K,2bb). LP: Mac Schnur 5IP (8k, 2bb)
North Allegheny (4-1, 1-0): Harron Lee 2-1B, Andrew Dougherty 1B RBI 2-R, Spencer Barnett 3B 1B RBI 2-R, David Posey 2B 3-RBI, JD Costanzo 3B 1B 3-RBI, August Maslo 1B RBI, Anthony Varlotta 1B 2-R, Andrew Hart 1B RBI, Brett McSparen RBI.
Butler (4-4, 2-2): Liam McElroy 3B, Noah Collins 1BN, Mac Schnir 1B, Colin Casteel 1B.
Wednesday: Butler at North Allegheny, 7 p.m.
