Tough schedule prepares Gateway for WPIAL baseball playoffs

By: Michael Love
Sunday, May 16, 2021 | 11:01 AM

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The Gateway baseball team went through a lot during the regular season with a roller coaster of game results while overcoming a midseason covid pause.

But the Gators came through on the right side and earned a spot in the WPIAL Class 5A playoffs. Coach Mark Wardzinski said he was proud of the way the players stuck together to make the trip to the postseason happen.

“The whole section (Section 1-5A) was strong this year, and those games really helped prepare us for the playoffs,” Wardzinski said.

“We had to fight hard for some wins, and we learned a lot about ourselves. We had a tough section, and it showed as the records are really close.”

Gateway closed out the regular season last Thursday with a nonsection game against Norwin, the Section 2-6A co-champions.

The Gators then were to find out who they would be playing in the first round of the WPIAL playoffs.

Gateway capped Section 1 play tied for second place with Penn-Trafford at 6-4 after a pair of wins against McKeesport, 3-2 and 7-4.

The victories came on the heels of a tough stretch which saw the Gators drop a 10-4 decision to Penn-Trafford and a pair of setbacks to section champion Franklin Regional, 17-2 and 11-0.

The first matchup with Penn-Trafford on April 13 went 12 innings before the Warriors prevailed, 3-2.

“Our guys never seem to get down,” Wardzinski said. “They always feel they have a chance to win, and they go into every game with that attitude, no matter what happened the game before. We’ve come back from a lot of different tough positions to win games.”

Franklin Regional rolled through the section at 10-0 and went into the WPIAL playoffs 14-1 overall.

“Franklin Regional got off on the right foot both games against us,” Wardzinski said. “In the first game, they scored five runs in the first inning, and they scored four runs in the first inning of the second game. They jumped up on us really quick. They are just a really good hitting team. If you get behind in the count, you have to groove them, and Franklin is going to hit the ball.”

Gateway went on a covid pause April 14 and came off of it April 19 in time for a section home-and-home series against Latrobe, a team it was close to in the Section 1 standings.

The Gators, with no practice time in the days leading up to the games, were able to take both games from the Wildcats.

“The guys came back just refreshed,” Wardzinski said.

“It was almost like they needed that break to just get healthy. We were practicing six days a week and going through the normal grind. I think it helped them reset some things and come back strong.”

Gateway won the first game 6-3, and the second game against Latrobe went down to the wire. The Gators trailed 4-1 in the third inning of Game 2, but came back to score a 9-8 win in walk-off fashion.

Junior Will Roper got the final-inning rally started by reaching base, and senior Chase Frenchik pinch ran for him. Junior Grady Otterman bunted Frenchik to second.

Freshman Taili Thompson then delivered a two-out hit to right on which the Latrobe right fielder was not able to make a play. That scored Frenchik with the winning run.

“It was nice to see everyone producing,” Wardzinski said. “Maybe not everyone got hits, but they were doing the little things like moving runners over, scoring runs with sacrifice flies, stuff like that. They just did the basics you need to do to win games. It’s always fun to watch the guys perform like that and have success.”

Otterman battled through a knee injury from basketball and was able to take the field, only to aggravate it and send him back on the injury list.

Before being sidelined, Otterman batted .261 (6 for 23) with a pair of RBIs and four runs scored.

Senior Joe Schulte entered the playoffs with the top batting average on the team at .359. Through 12 games, he collected 12 RBIs, two doubles, two home runs and 11 runs scored.

Junior Ryan Greggerson added a .323 average with nine runs batted in, two doubles and a home run.

“No matter who we’ve played this season, we knew we had what it took to get the win,” said Schulte, who also formed the core of the pitching staff in the regular season with Greggerson and sophomore Floyd McKenna.

“We didn’t win all of them, but we battled. We wanted to win the section. That didn’t happen, but I liked the mindset of having a chance to win each game.”

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Gateway