Latrobe begins PIAA title defense with victory over Greensburg Salem

By: HSSN Staff
Monday, March 26, 2018 | 9:15 PM

The Barbie car might have needed snow tires to roll into a new baseball season at Latrobe, but it made its return for another run of accolades.

Latrobe coach Matt Basciano gives out the small toy-turned-attaboy-award — complete with Ken in the driver’s seat, a wild-haired Barbie riding shotgun and a buckled-in baby between them — to a deserving player after each win.

After Monday’s season opener, the hot-pink plaything went to the entire team. It is meant to represent “family,” and Latrobe had several players contribute as the WPIAL and PIAA Class 5A champions began their title defense with a 7-2 win over Greensburg Salem at wind-whipped and frigid Graham-Sobota Field.

The Barbie car is back at Latrobe. The team's attaboy award is a hot pink car and some dolls, yes, but every player wants to win it.
Today, rather than a player of the game, coach Matt Basciano gave it to the whole team.@LatrobeBaseball#guysanddolls pic.twitter.com/kQ7heKiEEh

— Bill Beckner (@BillBeckner) March 27, 2018

“It’s the, ‘We are family, whatever it takes award’,” Basciano said.

The Wildcats (1-0) used a five-run fifth inning to rally past the Golden Lions (0-1) on the artificial turf that was hidden beneath 8 inches of snow just a few days earlier.

The start of baseball season — and springtime weather — looks like it will be a slow thaw. Wind chills barely made it out of the 20’s, and snow still blanketed a hillside behind the visitors’ bench. A line-drive foul ball disappeared into it.

But Latrobe executed nonetheless to start the year right.

Senior Andy Bradford went 3 for 3 and drove in two runs with a one-out single in the pivotal fifth to give Latrobe a 3-2 lead.

“Once we started getting energy into it, it made it real easy to go out there and feed off the energy,” Bradford said. “It was nice to get out after being inside all winter. We were just glad to get out here.”

Greensburg Salem led 2-0 thanks to a two-out, two-run double in the third by junior shortstop Jack Oberdorf. But the Golden Lions managed just three hits against a pair of Latrobe pitchers: sophomore Jake Bradish (4 innings, 2 hits, 6 strikeouts) and senior Griffin Clark (2 innings, 1 hit). Clark picked up the win in relief.

“It was that mentality: Whatever it takes,” Basciano said. “We had to weather through their first pitcher. He did a great job changing speeds and hitting his spots. Our kids did a good job sticking with it, getting him out and taking advantage of their pen.”

Also in the fifth, a dropped third strike led to a run, allowing Isaac Echard to score, and junior Ben Shaw’s RBI single made it 5-2.

Latrobe stranded seven baserunners in the first four innings. A rundown and a couple of steal attempts gone awry, were rally killers.

But fundamental mistakes often come with indoor practices and limited live repetition.

“To get out and shovel the snow off yesterday so we could be ready … it’s Western Pennsylvania baseball,” Basciano said. “We (operate) on the philosophy, ‘Whatever it takes.’ It’s the same thing to get these games in.”

Not that the Golden Lions have seen much daylight, either.

“This was the second time we had our spikes on,” Greensburg Salem coach Bill Wisniewski said. “We scrimmaged Jeannette last week, but that was it. I’m happy with how we played for 41⁄2 innings. It kind of fell apart. It was an implosion in the fifth.”

Greensburg Salem’s starting pitcher, junior Matt Wicker, did not allow a run in four innings of work.

Senior Andrew Rosenberg gave up four runs in the fifth and ended up taking the loss.

“I thought Wicker pitched well early on,” Wisniewski said. “Latrobe has been through close games and knows how to deal with certain situations and put together big innings.”

A pair of walks and a sacrifice bunt by junior Connor Mondock set the table for junior Adam Wolford to deliver a run-scoring single — a wind-grabbed floater to right — for Latrobe’s first run.

Wolford had two hits.

The Wildcats rode the momentum to take command.

“We have to fight and scrap,” Basciano said. “We had some runners on and didn’t execute early. Definitely some things we need to address. We’ll get back at it tomorrow and get them going.”

Senior John Mylant drove in a run in the sixth, and the Wildcats’ seventh run came home on an overthrow.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at bbeckner@tribweb.com or via Twitter @BillBeckner.

Tags: Greensburg Salem, Latrobe