Upper St. Clair baseball downs Canon-McMillan in another come-from-behind win

By: Don Rebel
Friday, May 21, 2021 | 9:20 PM

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Just call them the Cardiac Cats.

Two weeks after scoring a run in the seventh inning to tie the game and another in the eighth to upset then top-ranked Norwin to clinch a WPIAL Class 6A playoff berth, Upper St. Clair worked its late magic again Friday to come back and beat Canon-McMillan, 4-3, in a WPIAL Class 6A first-round dandy at West Mifflin.

The Panthers trailed from the second pitch of the game until the final pitch of the contest when Hunter Schroeck capped off a three-run rally with a bases-loaded single to left field to chase home the tying and winning runs.

“Our kids came up in that last inning up against the wall, down at that point, they score a couple and get the win on a walk-off,” Upper St. Clair coach Jerry Malarkey said. “I just can’t say enough about them.”

Upper St. Clair was behind the magic 8-ball from the start.

Canon-McMillan scored three runs on five hits in the top of the first inning off starter Brandon Liokareas.

On the second pitch of the game, Canon-McMillan senior Kolson DeSocio homered over the left field fence.

Noah Burke one-hopped the right field fence with a double and scored on a two-out single by senior Mekos Mantalis.

Courtesy runner Ben Siller stole second and scored on another RBI single by Andrew Kocan for a big start for the Big Macs.

This was the third meeting of the year between the Section 2-6A rivals after the split their first two regular season meetings.

In the second meeting, Liokareas shut out the Big Macs, allowing only five hits in a 5-0 Panthers win.

“I can’t say enough about what Brandon Liokareas did,” Malarkey said. “To start off with the rough first inning and pitch out of some jams in the second inning and third inning, to tough it out and go the distance.”

Another tough situation Liokareas escaped came in the top of the fifth inning after a Max Mandler homer in the fourth cut the Big Macs lead to 3-1.

Burke collected his third hit with a leadoff double and went to third on a Nate Vidmar single. However, Mantalis lined out to shortstop Jake Casey, who turned it into a 6-3 double play. Kocan then grounded out to end Canon-McMillan’s last offensive threat.

“It was huge,” Malarkey said. “We just told our kids, ‘You just have to keep competing and keep making the plays.’”

In the bottom of the fifth inning, USC loaded the bases, but Max Mandler grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the inning.

The senior Mandler would deliver, though, in the seventh.

With one out against reliever Brandon Adams, who came on after starter Ty Greenleaf threw a solid six innings, Mateo Cepullio singled and Owen Mandler and Casey were hit by pitches to load the bases.

Mandler singled to left to score Cepullio as the bases remained loaded.

After a fly out, the stage was set for more Panthers heroics as sophomore Hunter Shroeck collected his second hit of the game and lifted USC to the quarterfinals.

“I said to him before the game today, ‘Three months ago, in your wildest dreams, imagine you’d be the starting DH in a playoff game as a sophomore in 6A baseball,’” Malarkey said. “He said, ‘No, coach, I really didn’t.’ He’s earned that position.”

Upper St. Clair (9-9) has earned a spot in the 6A quarterfinals Saturday against top-seeded North Allegheny, a team the Panthers lost to in a nonsection game nine days ago, 2-0.

“North Allegheny is a very, very good team and very much deserving of the No. 1 seed,” Malarkey said. “When our team plays, I think we’re as good as anybody. We’re going to have to bring that A game for seven innings.”

Tags: Canon-McMillan, Upper St. Clair