North Allegheny cuts down on strikeouts, starts piling up wins
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Thursday, April 25, 2019 | 11:18 PM
Photo left: North Allegheny’s Anthony Hattrup scores past Penn-Trafford catcher Cade Patterson during their game at Seton Hill University. Photo right: North Allegheny pitcher Kevin Schott delivers during a game against Penn-Trafford at Seton Hill University.
North Allegheny pitcher Kevin Schott delivers during a game against Penn-Trafford Wednesday, Mar. 27, 2019, at Seton Hill University.
Diagnosing what has North Allegheny’s bats heating up isn’t something coach Andrew Heck has a clear answer for.
Early in the season, the Tigers struggled at times by piling up strikeouts. But North Allegheny has improved steadily and broke things open over the past five games.
The Tigers scored 10 runs against Allderdice, then followed up a one-run loss to Pine-Richland by crushing Hempfield, 12-2, and Hampton, 14-2, in nonsection action.
“I don’t know how people perceive it from watching games,” Heck said. “We are batting a (heck) of a lot better this year than last year. Does it have to do with the pitching in the section? I don’t know. I think it has a lot to do with being able to buy in, put the bat on the ball and be simple.”
North Allegheny (9-5, 3-2) had a two-game winning streak entering its section matchup with Central Catholic last Friday. Results of the game were too late for this edition.
The Tigers are tied for second place in Section 1-6A. North Allegheny’s two losses in section play were close ones, with a 6-3 loss to Seneca Valley and 5-4 decision against Pine-Richland.
Against the Rams, North Allegheny built a 4-0 lead and finished with a 9-5 edge in hits, but saw its leads slip away.
North Allegheny is batting .290 and has driven in 59 runs. CJ Weller (.424), Cole Young (.395), Logan Andreyko (.385) and Jared Orwell (.302) lead the Tigers’ in batting average among players with 25 at-bats or more.
“We were probably close to leading the country in strikeouts early in the season, but we’ve bought into the little things, and now we are seeing the results and success,” Heck said.
With a balanced pitching staff in the mix, North Allegheny is assembling the ingredients for a well-rounded team. The Tigers have had eight different pitchers record victories. Anthony Hattrup and Zach Trdinich both have two victories, while Ryan Partridge leads the team with 22 strikeouts.
“We’re set up,” Heck said. “We have five, six pitchers that I’m confident can throw any single game. The biggest thing is we throw strikes and can locate more than one pitch. We’ve been pushing 20 games for the past three years. We could easily play 30 games this season and have no issue with throwing four different guys every single week.”
Tags: North Allegheny
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