Westmoreland H.S. baseball notebook: Latrobe enjoys out-of-state opener

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Thursday, March 31, 2022 | 7:13 PM

Latrobe continued a tradition by playing a baseball game against Upper Arlington High School in Ohio.

The Wildcats traveled one state over to open the season against Upper Arlington, which is coached by Latrobe graduate Nate Campbell.

Here’s the cool part: The schools’ most famous alums are golf legends Arnold Palmer (Latrobe) and Jack Nicklaus (Upper Arlington).

Upper Arlington’s nickname is the Golden Bears, although the mascot was in place before the name was attached to Nicklaus.

Upper Arlington won 10-9 as the teams combined for 21 hits.

Logan Short went 3 for 4 with a double and two RBIs for Latrobe.

Kuyper Lashutka had three hits and four RBIs for the Golden Bears.

Inclement weather only allowed to play one game in Ohio. The Wildcats also were scheduled to play Worthington-Kilbourne, but the game was canceled.

“(Upper Arlington) came here last year and played us and Baldwin,” said Latrobe coach Matt Basciano, who coached Phillips. “This year we went out there. It was a great trip and some good team bonding. They have a new school and facilities, and it’s amazing. We played the first game on their new field.”

Basciano said Campbell’s nickname is “Soup.”

“Soup took us to the school Friday night after dinner to play some basketball and watch the (NCAA) tournament,” Basciano said. “Saturday morning, he took us to a neighboring school to take (batting practice) in their indoor facility that was also amazing.”

Rally caps

Penn-Trafford is at it again. A team that developed a flair for the dramatic last season has another late-rally victory to its credit.

The Warriors (2-0) loaded the bases twice in the seventh inning Wednesday before Jason Sabol and Matt Lichota delivered run-scoring singles for a 2-1 victory over Hempfield.

Last year, the Warriors earned a 4-3 walk-off win over Seton LaSalle, edged Gateway, 3-2, on a bases-loaded walk, and Lichota ripped a winning single in a 4-3 victory over Connellsville.

Open for business

Here are some highlights from opening day of the season, which came and went and was followed by more cold weather and postponements:

• Greensburg Salem spread the wealth in a 13-2 win over Ligonier Valley in six innings. Ethan Heese went 3 for 3 with four RBIs, Hayden Teska had two hits and drove in three and Caden Cioffi added a pair of RBIs.

• Aaron Alakson had two hits, and Rege Sofranko picked up the win on the mound as Mt. Pleasant held back Burrell, 7-6. The visiting Bucs scored four runs in the top of the seventh after falling behind 7-2.

Mt. Pleasant improved to 2-0 with a 6-0 win over McGuffey on Wednesday at Wild Things Park in Washington. Jacob Kitz, Sofranko and Connor Drzal combined on a five-hit shutout.

• Yough scored seven runs in the first and second innings and powered past Jeannette, 16-5, in five innings. Jack Sampson and Carson Pasinski tripled, and Jacob Parquette went 3 for 3 for the Cougars.

• Jake Otto went 3 for 3 with three RBIs, and Penn-Trafford took advantage of 15 Norwin walks on the way to a 10-6 win.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Greensburg Salem, Latrobe, Mt. Pleasant, Penn-Trafford, Yough