Penn Hills baseball building with young lineup

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, May 4, 2018 | 1:39 AM

At the beginning of the season, a breath of fresh air and a new attitude was injected into the Penn Hills baseball program with the hiring of Jerry Cammuso.

However, Cammuso quickly got a taste of the change in level of play from AAU to high school baseball as he fields a young team with six sophomores and freshmen in the starting lineup.

The Indians (3-10, 1-9) started with a pair of nonsection wins at McKeesport and at home against Southmoreland.

Penn Hills suffered six losses in a row to start Section 2-6A before earning its first section win at Connellsville, 8-7, on April 26. The win over Connellsville marked Penn Hills' first section win since defeating Kiski Area during the 2015 season.

“At the beginning of the season I was very optimistic, but this is my first year coaching high school. This is a different kind of animal that I'm attacking right now at this moment,” Cammuso said.

“I have to understand that we do have seniors, juniors, sophomores and freshmen. Right now, six of my starters are either freshmen or sophomores.”

The Indians have been led by sophomore Cam Clark, with a .438 batting average, 10 RBIs and 11 runs scored. Senior Anthony Tucci has six doubles, while batting .400 with eight RBIs and nine runs scored.

Cammuso has been pleased by the production of junior James Rose, who has a .394 batting average, eight RBIs and four runs scored.

On the mound, Tucci and sophomore Cole Yeager have been leading the Indians. In nine appearances, Yeager has a 3.62 ERA with 18 strikeouts and 10 walks. Tucci leads the team with 21 innings pitched, with 19 strikeouts and 16 walks.

With a young team, the Indians showed their ability to hang in with their opponents, but they have allowed opposing teams to have one big inning to create separation.

“We took our bumps, but we're a young team. We were in a lot of the sections games. There were many of those games that we could've won, but when you have freshmen and sophomores they got nervous since they haven't been around the block in high school baseball,” Cammuso said.

“I'm building for the future. I'm trying to get all these kids reps. Most sophomores and freshmen don't step on a varsity field. We're going to reap the benefits for the next couple of years because of what we're doing right now.”

As Cammuso's first season at Penn Hills comes to a close, the Indians look to win as many games as possible, but Cammuso wants to make sure his team continues to play hard until the final out of the season.

“We never give in. You never back down even if you're behind the 8-ball. You have to keep grinding, and we'll get this done,” Cammuso said.

“The level of ball players that I have and that I've trained is different than AAU. You have to come down to basics, but I think they all grasp it now. I've made them play at a higher level and train at a higher level.”

Andrew John is a freelance writer.

Tags: Penn Hills