Trib HSSN Baseball Team of the Week for May 8, 2022

By: Don Rebel
Sunday, May 8, 2022 | 8:20 PM

After the 2020 season was shut down, the Mt. Lebanon baseball team returned last spring with a young team that finished 11-8 and lost to Butler in the district quarterfinals.

With several key players returning, the Blue Devils didn’t exactly overwhelm a slew of early nonsection opponents, losing four games in a row as March turned into April.

“It was more about playing games early to figure out what we have,” Mt. Lebanon coach Patt McCloskey said. “While losing four straight games is tough, I honestly don’t care about our out-of-section record, as we always play a ton of tough games early to figure out what we have. I couldn’t be prouder of how we responded after losing four games in four days.”

Since then, then Blue Devils have gone 10-3. By ending their section schedule with two more wins last week, Mt. Lebanon finished 9-1 and won the Section 2-6A title by three games.

Last week began with a Monday night game at the Boyce-Mayview Complex against rival Upper St. Clair.

The Blue Devils put the game away early with four runs in the second inning and two more in the third on their way to a 7-0 whitewash.

“Monday night’s win came down to three things,” McCloskey said. “One, Jack Smith had to throw a lot of pitches, but he got out of the first inning without giving up a run. Eddie Albert was really, really good, and we didn’t want to fall behind against him. We came right out in the second inning and kept swinging the bats well and were able to get a couple of runs, that took the pressure off. The third thing was that second baseman AJ Stettler made a great play in the fifth inning that will never show up in the box score, but his play prevented USC from potentially having a big inning and starting a comeback.”

Eight Mt. Lebanon players collected hits, and Smith allowed three hits and struck out nine in five innings to pick up the win.

The next day at home, pitching again carried the day for the Blue Devils in a 2-0 shutout.

“Starting pitcher Derrick Shields was really on,” McCloskey said. “We didn’t give him a lot of offensive support, but he was really sharp and pitched us into the seventh inning. We did score a couple of runs in the bottom of the first, again taking the pressure off of us.”

Shields, a freshman, allowed only two hits in 6 1/3 innings with nine strikeouts. Junior Tanner Donati led the seven-hit attack for Mt. Lebanon with a pair of singles.

“We have had a lot of contributions from so many players,” McCloskey said. “Tanner Donati has been exceptional in the leadoff spot, and Jack Smith has been really solid in the third spot while playing great defense at third base. Matt Delvaux played through a bad hamstring injury at shortstop and gutted it out like a real gamer and had some huge hits. He’s getting healthy now, and that’s been a big help.”

Still, it’s the pitching that has led the Blue Devils to a section championship, which could lead to more hardware down the road.

“From a pitching perspective, Derrick Shields has delivered every start. Jack Smith has come on and pitched great out of the bullpen against Hempfield and Norwin, and then was great starting against Baldwin and USC. Evan Rossi, Matt Delvaux, and Owen Mitchell have also been huge contributors out of the pen. The big thing for our pitchers has been our very low walk rate, especially compared to the number of strikeouts they have gotten.”

Junior Tyler Smith, an Auburn recruit, has not pitched and has been the Blue Devils’ designated hitter all season.

Mt. Lebanon will close the regular season with a couple of nonsection games this week before they are expected to earn a high seed in the upcoming WPIAL playoffs.

While there are only nine and possibly 10 teams that will be part of the Class 6A baseball bracket, McCloskey feels what the tournament lacks in size, it makes up for in quality.

“It’s the deepest field ever. We played four of the five teams from the north that made the playoffs, they were all really good teams. We didn’t play Central, but we know that they are really good as well. It’s the most parity 6A has ever had, and any one of the teams can win. There’s no advantage to any seeding. We know we are playing a championship-caliber team in the first round of the playoffs.

“From our section, all of the games were really close. We finished 9-1, but there were no easy games. Anyone from our section is capable of winning it. 6A has been so much fun this year because both sections are so equally balanced, and when you look at the records, you see that everyone has beaten everyone. It’s going to be a really exciting playoff, because all nine teams can legitimately win it.”

2022 Trib HSSN Baseball Teams of the Week

Week 4 — Shenango Wildcats

Week 3 — Hopewell Vikings

Week 2 — Chartiers Valley Colts

Week 1 — Beaver Bobcats

Tags: Mt. lebanon