North Penn fell to Cedar Cliff 1-0 in 13 innings in Friday’s PIAA 6A state title game. Photos provided courtesy of Cindy Manero/NP baseball.
PIAA 6A final
#3-2 CEDAR CLIFF 1, #1-1 NORTH PENN 0 (13 innings)
It was the cruelest of endings
An ending no one seemed able to explain when - with none out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the 13th inning of a scoreless game – North Penn’s dream of capturing the program’s fourth PIAA 6A state title came to a shocking end with a balk call.
Yes, a balk call.
No game-winning hit for the Colts, no 13th inning heroics. Instead, Cedar Cliff won it on a balk.
“I don’t know – I didn’t really see much,” NP senior catcher Chase Jones said. “The umpire saw it, he called it. It was the umpire’s call.”
“I guess he twitched his leg,” NP coach Kevin Manero said of the balk call on pitcher Caleb Price. “I mean, we were in a tough spot there anyway.
“We managed to get out of jams all night – bases-loaded nobody out with the best part of their order up (in the seventh). There’s a lot of ways to score that run, and I don’t want Caleb Price to think that a balk was the reason why we lost.
“We had a lot of chances. We had eight hits. We hit the ball hard all over the field. There’s a lot of ways to lose a game, and that’s just one of them. It’s unfortunate.”
The Knights did a whole lot right in Friday’s heartbreaker. Their pitching was brilliant – Trevor Lugara threw eight shutout innings, and Price threw four scoreless innings before the unlucky 13th. The Knights’ defense turned a pair of double plays and made one big play after another. Lugara and shortstop Kevin Brace teamed up to pick off a runner at second base. Right fielder Jeremiah Criger made a catch sliding into the fence in foul territory. Third baseman Luke Chartrand made a tough play going to his knee in the shortstop hole and firing to first for the out.
But for all the things they did right, they never could come up with the timely hit.
Then, in the bottom of the 13th, Michael Boblick – who won the game with five shutout innings in relief – led off with a single and one pitch later wound up on third on a misplayed pickoff. Back-to-back walks loaded the bases and that was followed by the balk call and the disappointing ending.
“We worked all year for this,” Lugara said. “We have a great group of 15 seniors on this team, and obviously, no one wanted to see it end this way, but it really shows the fight of this team when we go 13 innings in the state championship. It’s just tough to lose like that.”
The Knights had a total of eight hits, but six were in the first six innings. They managed just two over the next seven.
“They were just throwing strikes,” senior Chase Jones said of Cedar Cliff’s pitchers. “They were attacking us. They had good pitchers on the bump. They made some pitches, hit in spots, doing what they needed to do, so props to them.
“I feel as hitters we did good – we did all we could. We were squaring up balls. A lot of our outs – they were squared up. Their pitchers battled.”
By the numbers: North Penn: Trevor Lugara (8.0 IP, 4H, 0R, 0ER, 3BB, 8K), Caleb Price (L) (4.0 IP, 3H, 1R, 1ER, 4BB, 1k).
Logan Waynick (2-for-5), Christian Barnes (2-for-5)
Cedar Cliff: Peyton Price (8.0 IP, 7H, 0R, 0BB, 4K), Michael Boblick (W) (5.0 IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 4K)
Bennett Secrest (2-for-5), Owen Anastasi (2B).
North Penn coach Kevin Manero on the game: “I’ve been coaching for 23 years, and they say that every time you coach you see something you never saw before. Today’s one of the strangest games I’ve ever been a part of in my entire career. To have it happen on this stage the last game of the high school baseball season makes it even more magnified, but I think the guys did everything right.
“They hit the ball all over the field. They fought like crazy. You can’t ask them to have played a better game than they played today. The opportunities were there, but sometimes baseball just sneaks up on you and finds a way to beat you up.”
Lugara’s legacy: Trevor Lugara - the last Knight to leave the field after his final postgame interview - walked back to the dugout to a rousing ovation from the North Penn faithful who remained at Penn State University’s Medlar Park.
It was well deserved.
Not just for his performance in Friday’s finals but for a stellar senior season. Lugara was 10-1 for a Knights team that captured the SOL Colonial Division as well as the District 1 6A title. In 85 innings, he struck out 89 and walked just 10. He had an ERA of 0.74 with a WHIP of .671 and a batting average against of .159.
In Friday’s state title game, Lugara did what he does best – efficiently mowing down batters for eight shutout innings.
“I just try and get through it as fast as I can - just to get in there and get back in the dugout,” Lugara said.
Despite another outstanding outing, Lugara was left with a no decision.
“We got the best pitching you could ever hope for in a state championship game,” Manero said. “A guy (Lugara) that came back on short rest and just gutted it out.
“Trevor Lugara is a first ballot Hall of Famer for us. He’ll be on that wall of the dugout. His numbers are unbelievable.”
Asked what he liked about his ace, Manero needed just one word.
“Everything,” the Knights’ coach said. “His command, the pace that he works, the ability to throw multiple pitches for strikes.
“There were a lot of games today that were seven innings that took longer than 13 innings, but that’s what happens. He just goes out there and he goes quick, and that’s how baseball needs to be played, and that’s how your guys stay sharp in the field, and that’s how you get up in the box and you’re ready to play again.
“That kid – the qualities he brings to the mound I have never seen, and we’ve had a lot of great pitchers, but show me somebody’s statistics that are anything like his, and that’s just because he commands the entire game when he’s out there.”
With Lugara on the mound, it looked as though Friday’s would be another brief game, but it wound up being the longest final in PIAA history.
Price delivers from bullpen: The box score of Friday’s game will show that Caleb Price absorbed the loss, but that doesn’t begin to tell the story of his gutsy outing. He entered the game in the bottom of the ninth with a runner on second none out and got out of that jam.
“Caleb’s only come in and thrown couple innings all year,” Manero said. “He’s never thrown that many innings. We asked him to put the team on his shoulders and give us a chance, and he sure as heck did that. He battled like crazy out there.
“That’s a kid who threw zero varsity innings coming into this year, and actually coming into the season, I wasn’t 100 percent sure what we would have for him, but he worked extremely hard, and he proved to us every time he went out there this year he could come in and throw strikes.”
It was Price’s fearless approach on the mound, according to his coach, that made him an easy choice to relieve Lugara.
“It started at the very beginning of the year in a non-league game at Hazleton - he came in, and you could just tell he wasn’t afraid,” Manero said. “He came in, and he just threw hard, he threw strikes. Nothing fazed him, and that’s what we want. We want guys to come in out of the pen that are going to be tough, competitive and pound the zone. That’s he’s done every game we brought him in.
“He had a huge finish against Haverford, which seems like years ago, but it was just districts, but he’s proven himself in big games.”
Seniors in a class of their own: The list is a lengthy one. Some were major contributors while others contributed quietly in supporting roles. They are the seniors that are part of this year’s North Penn squad, and their value to the team – according to their coach – cannot be overstated.
“I don’t want to sound like a cliché because every team that wins a lot of games and has a lot of seniors, you kind of say the same thing,” the Knights coach said. “But this is a very special group. The quality of human beings that they are, the chemistry they have – there’s not one ego in the dugout. They just love the game of baseball and love playing with each other as much as any group of players I’ve ever seen.
“We’ve had talent, we’ve had chemistry, but it’s hard to put into words how this group functions together, and more than anything in the world, that’s why we’re here at Penn State on the last day of the season.”
Seniors on the squad are Kevin Brace, Luke Chartrand, Mason Coyne, Jeremiah Criger, Brady Dolder, Jake Duld, Ben Grattan, Chase Jones, Jackson Kelley, Trevor Lugara, Josh Martinell, Caleb Price, Alex Pyle and Jackson Schurmann.
“It’s so hard (to see it end),” Jones said. “We worked so hard. A lot of us have been playing with each other since we were 10 years old, so just saying good-bye - it’s not what you want to do right then. It’s just been a fun journey with them.”
A winning coaching staff: After Friday’s season finale, NP coach Kevin Manero acknowledged the efforts of his coaching staff comprised of Frank Yanni, Bryan Clayton, Mark Renda, Kevin Harder, Brandon Billetz,
Joe Picozzi, Doug Kile, Jimmy Ward and Dan Drop.
“We have an unbelievable coaching staff that does so much work behind the scenes,” the Knights’ coach said. “People that sacrifice their personal lives to be at the field. Whether it’s making scouting reports or whether it’s accepting one role like moving fielders or taking care of substitutions, getting guys ready to come off the bench, working with catchers, working with first basemen.
“The assistant coaches that I am blessed to work with make this job so much easier, and watching how emotional they get about the game and how much it means to them, it makes it so (easy) for me to work hard, and you cannot win without a coaching staff like we have. I’m fortunate, and these players are fortunate to have these guys.”
The season: North Penn closed out its season with a 22-6 record and a 10-5 mark in the SOL Colonial Division.
Cedar Cliff 1, North Penn 0 (13 innings)
North Penn 000 000 000 000 0 0-8-2
Cedar Cliff 000 000 000 000 1 1-7-1
North Penn (0) – Kevin Brace ss 5 0 1 0; Logan Waynick 2b 5 0 2 0; Matthew Pownall pr 0 0 0 0; Chase Jones c 5 0 1 0; Brady Dolder pr 0 0 0 0; Mason Coyne 1b 4 0 0 0; Christian Barnes cf 5 0 2 0; Ben Grattan lf 5 0 1 0; Luke Chartrand 3b 5 0 0 0; Josh Martinell dh 5 0 0 0 0; Tyler Agriss pr 0 0 0 0; Jeremiah Criger rf 4 0 1 0; Alex Pyle ph 1 0 0 0; Trevor Lugara p 0 0 0 0; Caleb Price p 0 0 0 0; TOTALS 14 0 8 0.
Cedar Cliff (1) – Michael Boblick cf, p 5 1 1 0; Owen Anastasi ss 5 0 1 0; Bennett Secrest c 5 0 2 0; Grant Enders 3b 3 0 0 0; Ian Ripple 1b 4 0 1 0; Jesus Espinal pr 0 0 0 0; Blake Secrest lf 4 0 1 0; Will Kocher dh 4 0 0 0; Cy Sollenberger ph 1 0 0 0 0; Luke Sowers rf 4 0 1 0; Sammy Georges 2b 4 0 0 0 0; Peyton Price p 0 0 0 0; Jesse Keller cf 0 0 0 0; TOTALS 30 1 7 0.
E – CC 1, NP 2. DP – NP 2, CC 2. LOB – NP 6, CC 9. 2B – Anastasi. HBP – Coyne, Georges. SH – Enders. SB – Grattan, Secrest.
North Penn IP H R ER SB SO
Trevor Lugara 8.0 4 0 0 3 8
Caleb Price (L) 4.0 3 1 0 4 1
Cedar Cliff IP H R ER BB SO
Peyton Price 8.0 7 0 0 0 4
Michael Boblick (W) 5.0 1 0 0 0 4
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