Bethel Park defeats Canon-McMillan to claim Section 3-6A title

By: HSSN Staff
Wednesday, May 2, 2018 | 11:12 PM

When Bethel Park brought reliever Corey Fischer in to start the seventh inning, the public address announcer blasted the 1966 hit song by The Troggs, “Wild Thing.”

That song would have been appropriate for earlier in the game when the Black Hawks took advantage of free passes to clinch the Section 3-6A crown with a 9-4 victory over Canon-McMillan on Wednesday.

Bethel Park combined six hits with seven walks in the first three innings against Canon-McMillan starter Cam Weston to grab an 8-4 lead and cruise to their second section championship in three years.

The victory is the ninth straight for the Black Hawks as they guarantee themselves one of the top seeds when the playoff brackets come out next week. But coach Tony Fisher knows no matter what seed they get, it will be tough once the postseason begins.

“On any given day, anybody can beat anybody,” he said. “You get one good pitcher out there that can buzz-saw you down, anything can happen.”

The pitcher that “buzz-sawed” the Big Macs on Wednesday was freshman left-hander Eric Chalus. He pitched six innings, allowing four runs, two of which were earned, on eight hits with five strikeouts. Unlike his mound opponent, Chalus was under control in allowing only one free pass.

“We're a good team,” Chalus said. “Coach believes in me, and a good team has my back.”

Youth is being served at Bethel Park. Besides the freshman hurler, four sophomores play a big part in the Black Hawks' starting lineup. But Fisher believes this team has achieved what it has because of the senior leadership.

“We do have a great mix, but the success starts with the seniors,” Fisher said. “They all have a role on the team, but their leadership is tremendous. They mentor these young guys, and that's why our juniors and sophomores play so hard.”

It was a couple of seniors who did the heavy lifting on offense against the Big Macs as Korey Patterson smacked a two-run double in the first, and Adam Malecki was perfect at the plate with four hits, three runs and three RBIs.

Trailing 5-1 after two, Canon-McMillan scored three runs in the third on Ian Hess' run-scoring single, followed by a two-run base hit by Weston that made it 5-4 Bethel Park.

But Malecki's RBI single and a two-run single by Kevin Kogler made it 8-4.

Another key for the Hawks (12-3, 10-1) in dethroning the Big Macs (11-5, 8-3) as section champs was the contributions from the Nos. 8 and 9 hitters in the lineup. Anthony Strangis and Brandon Cole were a combined 3 for 3 with three walks and five runs scored.

Don Rebel is a TribLive High School Sports Network broadcaster and staff writer. Reach him at drebel@tribweb.com.

Tags: Bethel Park, Canon-McMillan