How Ryan Rebholz is still making an impact for reigning WPIAL baseball champion Seneca Valley
JACKSON TWP — Ryan Rebholz allowed just two hits and shut Norwin out over 5.2 innings on the mound during last year’s WPIAL Class 6A Baseball Championship game.
He entered his senior season at Seneca Valley as the team’s unquestioned pitching ace. So what has he provided for the Raiders this spring?
“Well, nothing,” Seneca Valley coach Eric Semega said after a 4-2 win over North Allegheny last week. “Because he hasn’t played all year. He’s hurt, so with that, it was a big loss for us.”
Rebholz, a Grove City College commit, tore his UCL during the first inning of the Raiders’ opener. He said it was a “progressive injury rather than a sudden injury. ... I was losing accuracy, I was missing arm side, so all the signs.”
He’s shelved for the remainder of the season.
“But what he does offer is a really good senior leader on the bench of keeping everyone up,” Semega said. “He does a lot of other things to help our pitchers out — like Parker (Mell) — that are young.”
Rebholz won’t lie. The situation has been tough on him, but “I’ve gotta just be the glue guy at this point,” he said. “Got to get into the role that you’ve gotta do, so I’m just doing the (score) book until I get surgery, but after that, just be the best teammate that I could possibly be.”
“It’s a respect (aspect) on both ends,” Semega said. “And he knows that there’s nothing that he can do about it right now, so he’s gonna try to help and enjoy this season any way he can even though he can’t go between the white lines.”
Rebholz was a first-team Butler County baseball all-star last season after going 6-0 and posting a 0.99 ERA in 37.2 innings. He said the injury will require a “big recovery.”
“We’ll see how we’re gonna hammer the recovery process and take it easy, because I won’t be back by fall, but definitely by spring, so it’s a goal,” Rebholz said.
He plans on going into the physical therapy field someday. He also would like to coach at Seneca Valley.
“Sitting next to Coach Semega most of the time ... is just giving me a better outlook on the game and seeing what you gotta look at more specifically,” Rebholz said.
