Four SOL baseball teams – Pennridge, North Penn, Council Rock North and Upper Moreland - will be in action when the PIAA Tournament begins on Monday.
By Scott Huff
The 16-team PIAA Quad-A baseball championship tournament gets underway Monday (6/3/13), and the three Suburban One League teams in the field will set out for points North, South, and West. North Penn will be making the trek North as the Knights will travel to Easton to meet the District 11 champion Parkland Trojans. Pennridge will be making the trek South as the Rams will travel to Philadephia to meet the District 12 champion La Salle Explorers. And Council Rock Northwill be making the journey West as the Indians will travel to Fredericksburg to meet the District 3 champion Lower Dauphin Falcons.
The 16-team PIAA Class AAA baseball championship tournament will also begin Monday (6/3/13) and for the lone SOL team – American Conference champion Upper Moreland– the destination will be West. The Golden Bears will make the trek to York to meet those upstart District 3 champion Greensville-Antrim Blue Devils.
Set the GPS – let the games begin.
PIAA Quad-A State Baseball Playoffs
Monday – June 3, 2013
Pennridge Rams (1-2) vs. La Salle Explorers (12-1)
@ Richie Ashburn Field – Philadelphia – 12:15 pm
Winner Gets: The winner of this game will play the winner of the Wyoming Valley West (2-1) vs. Exeter Township (3-2) game on Thursday (6/6/13) at a site to be determined.
Season Resume: Pennridge finished the regular season as the 3rd place team in the Suburban One League Continental Conference with a record of 9-5, while La Salle finished the regular season as the champion of the Philadelphia Catholic League Southern Division with a record of 14-5.
Playoff Resume: Pennridge (10th seed) advanced to the District One finals before losing its first playoff game. The Rams opened with a 7-3 victory over Great Valley, advanced with a stunning 7-1 victory over second seeded Neshaminy, moved on to the finals with a 4-1 win over Boyertown, and lost in the district finals to Coatesville 5-4. La Salle worked its way through the PCL playoffs with a win over Archbishop Wood (11-8) and a pair of wins over St. Joe Prep (10-3 & 10-0). The Explorers earned the District 12 title when they routed Philadelphia Public League champion Frankford – 8-0.
Fab Four: Pennridge features the talents of pitchers Evan Myers and David Tatioan and the bats of Jake Gordon and Danny Shane, while La Salle showcases the pitching talents of Dom Cuoci and Tom Cockill and the hitting of Joe Picard and Chris Melillo.
Ram head coach Tom Nuneviller says: “La Salle is a program that has been very successful (defending state champion), and you do that by doing all the little things right. They have very good pitching and play fundamental baseball in the field, but every team we have played lately has good pitching and plays fundamental baseball. The kids are excited about playing in the state tournament, and I know that they like the fact that we are going to play in the city and get out of school very early for a 12:15 start. Every team in the state playoffs is a very good team – and sometimes you need to have a little luck to win these games. I hope we are a little lucky against La Salle.”
North Penn Knights (1-4) vs. Parkland Trojans (11-1)
@ Easton High School – Easton – 4 pm
Winner Gets: The winner of this game will play the winner of the Coatesville (1-1) vs. Frankford (12-2) game on Thursday (6/6/13) at a site to be determined.
Season Resume: North Penn finished the regular season as the 3rd place team in the Suburban One League Continental Conference with a record of 9-5, while Parkland finished the season as the regular season champion of the Lehigh Valley Conference with a record of 13-1.
Playoff Resume: North Penn (12th seed) won its first three games in District One before losing its final two games to become the #4 seed in states. The Knights opened the playoffs with a 9-3 win over Conestoga, defeated Perkiomen Valley 8-3, and gained a state playoff berth with a 5-0 win over Strath Haven. North Penn then lost consecutive playoff games to Pennridge 4-3 and CR North 4-1. Parkland (#3 seed) emerged as the District 11 champion as the Trojans won all three of their playoff games. Parkland opened the playoffs with a 4-1 win over Liberty, advanced with a 3-0 victory over Pocono Mountain East, and won the district title with a 5-2 win over Whitehall.
Fab Four: North Penn features the talents of pitchers Brian Maher and Dylan Borawski and the hitting of Brady West and Eddie Posavec, while Parkland showcases the talents of pitchers Tyler Duff and Alex Flynn and the bats of Tyler Graeff and Brad Vaslik.
Knight head coach Kevin Manero says: “We were disappointed with the way we played the last two games, but of the 35 innings of baseball we played in districts - we really only had three of four bad innings which cost us games. We had two great practices, and we are hopefully going back to the type of baseball that we played the first three games at districts. We want to throw strikes and be aggressive at the plate – and if we can do both of those we should be in a position to win a game against anyone. After Monday, there will be eight winners and eight losers – we want to be one of the winners.”
Council Rock North Indians (1-3) vs. Lower Dauphin Falcons (3-1)
@ Wenger Field – Fredericksburg – 6:30 pm
Winner Gets: The winner of this game will play the winner of the State College (6-1) vs. JP McCaskey (3-3) game on Thursday (6/6/13) at a site to be determined.
Season Resume: Council Rock North finished the regular season as the 2nd place team in the Suburban One League National Conference with a record of 9-5, while Lower Dauphin was the winner of the Mid-Penn Keystone Conference with a regular season record of 12-2.
Playoff Resume: Council Rock North (7th seed) played three extra inning games in District One and was the 3rd place finisher in the district. The Indians defeated Penncrest 9-8 in 9 innings, followed with a 10-5 win over Unionville, defeated Methacton 9-8 in 10-innings, lost to eventual district champion Coatesville 3-2 in 8-innings, and defeated North Penn 4-1 to earn the third seed. Lower Dauphin (5th seed) became the District 3 champion courtesy of a four-game winning streak in district play. The Falcons soared to victories over Cumberland Valley by a 3-2 score, defeated Warwick 4-2, bested McCaskey 6-2, and edged Exeter 1-0 in the district final.
Fab Four: Council Rock North features the talents of pitchers Brett Newman and Matt Renck and the hitting of Ryan Baker and Tyler Callender, while Lower Dauphin showcases the talents of pitchers Blair Lewis and Marty Kiessling and the bats of Jeff Light and Corey Atkins.
Indian head coach Matt Schram says: “We are going to have to make some adjustments playing under the lights because we haven’t played a game under the lights all year. And it is a 2 ½ hour bus ride to get to the game. It is going to come down to who is hot, who is lucky, and who has good things happen for them during the game. At the beginning of the year, we were a bunch of moving parts, but now we are playing as one. Beating North Penn was huge for us – now we can go into states with a little mojo. We are playing confident and we are playing with an edge.”
PIAA Class AAA Baseball Playoffs
Monday – June 3, 2013
Upper Moreland Golden Bears (1-2) vs. Greencastle-Antrim Blue Devils (3-1)
@ Northern York High School – York – 5:30 pm
Winner Gets: The winner of this game will play the winner of the Punxsutawney (9-1) vs. Hopewell (7-2) game on Thursday (6/6/13) at a site to be determined.
Season Resume: Upper Moreland finished the season as the champion of the Suburban One American Conference with a conference record of 13-1, while Greencastle-Antrim finished its regular season as the 2nd place finisher in the Mid Penn Colonial Division with a division mark of 8-4.
Playoff Resume: Upper Moreland (3rd seed) captured its first two games of District One play with a 12-0 victory over Marple Newtown and advanced to the district title game with an 8-1 win over Pottstown. The Golden Bears were defeated in that district final by Holy Ghost Prep – 6-0. Greencastle-Antrim (13th seed) surprised the field with wins over Lancaster Catholic (9-6), Oley Valley (7-1), and West York (5-3). The Blue Devils won the District 3 championship with a 12-8 victory over Littlestown.
Fab Four: Upper Moreland features the talents of pitchers Charlie Hooker and Eddie Decker and the hitting of Robert Knox and Matt Kohn, while Greencastle-Antrim showcases the pitching of Ryan Ricci and Myles Gayman and the hitting of Ashtim Byers and Adam Moore.
Golden Bear head coach Ernie Rehr says: “Greencastle is a 13 seed, but you really can’t go by seeding. They are on a hot streak right now, and it would be great if we could be the game where they let down. It is a 2-½ hour bus ride – but it’s great to have a road trip like that when you get to play in states. The last time we were there (in states) we were just happy to be there, but this year I want us to play like we are one of the best 16 teams in the state. We might have looked at the big picture too much in districts; we are now going to focus on just one game at a time.
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