Penn-Trafford baseball holds on for wild win over Hempfield

By: HSSN Staff
Thursday, April 26, 2018 | 9:51 PM

Moments after host Penn-Trafford's wild, 10-8 baseball victory over top-ranked Hempfield on Thursday, both coaches agreed nothing is automatic in the WPIAL's ultra-competitive Section 2 of Class 6A, where just one game separates the top three teams.

Hempfield (11-3, 6-1) remains atop the standings despite dropping its first section game. But with rainouts jamming the remainder of the schedule, there's little time for the Spartans or any other team in the section to dwell.

“There has never been a time when I felt that we would go undefeated in the section,” Hempfield coach Tim Buzzard said. “That rarely happens. There's just too many good teams here.”

Hempfield is back on the field Friday at Plum, which beat fourth-place Norwin on Thursday and remained tied for second with Penn-Trafford (7-4, 5-2) in Section 2. The Warriors, meanwhile, host Connellsville.

“When we play at the top of our game, we can play with anyone,” Penn-Trafford coach Dan Miller said. “We have 18 guys here who we feel we can use in different situations, and they'll be accountable. Today, our bats came alive, but neither team was really sharp on the mound.”

Some of that could be attributed to the wet weather, but every team seemingly is strapped for pitching with all the rescheduled games lining up.

Josh Spiegel, Zach Mancz and Mario Disso drove in two runs apiece, and Penn-Trafford scored six first-inning runs before holding on, ending the Spartans' five-game winning streak.

“We've had some tough weather, sure,” Buzzard said. “But today was a great day to play baseball. We were ready to go and they were, too. It just turned into a shootout and they did everything a little better than we did.”

Traynor Granatire homered for Hempfield, which trailed 8-5 after two innings in a game that featured 14 walks and nine errors. Penn-Trafford outhit Hempfield, 10-9.

Penn-Trafford erased a 1-0 deficit in the bottom of the first inning, sending 10 batters to the plate and scoring six runs on four hits with the help of two walks and a Hempfield error.

Disso's two-run double highlighted the uprising, which also included RBI singles by Cade Patterson and Ben Mongelluzzo.

The Warriors never trailed after that.

“A lot of good teams out there,” Buzzard said. “We'll put this one behind us quickly and get ready for Plum.”

Hempfield tried to rally the rest of the way, cutting into Penn-Trafford's lead with four runs in the top of the second, sparked by Granatire's leadoff homer that made it 6-5.

But Penn-Trafford added a pair of runs in the bottom of the second for an 8-5 lead on an RBI single by Mancz and a sacrifice fly by Tyler Horvat.

Isaiah DiAndreth's sacrifice fly in the third pulled Hempfield within 8-6 before Penn-Trafford stretched the lead to 10-6 in the fourth on Spiegel's two-run shot to right-center.

When Hempfield made yet another run in the sixth, scoring twice with the help of two Penn-Trafford errors, Miller turned to Christian Pfrogner out of the bullpen. The hard-throwing senior shut down the Spartans over the final 1 ¹⁄₃ innings.

Pfrogner ended the game by striking out the final two Hempfield batters in the top of the seventh after Isaiah DiAndreth reached on an error to lead off the inning.

Dave Mackall is a freelance writer.

Tags: Hempfield Area, Penn-Trafford