Bruzdewicz, Rohaley guide Canon-McMillan into PIAA baseball finals

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, June 15, 2018 | 2:45 AM

When Tim Bruzdewicz watches Zach Rohaley pitch, he sometimes sees a younger, right-handed version of himself.

“I threw a lot like Rohaley as a pitcher,” said Bruzdewicz, Canon-McMillan's third-year baseball coach. “I threw first-pitch changeups and curveballs. I didn't throw hard for professional baseball.”

Rohaley isn't a power pitcher like teammate Cam Weston, but instead uses four pitches to keep hitters off-balance.

As coach and ace, their connection is clear.

Two weeks after winning the team's first WPIAL title, they'll try to help the Big Macs win their second state crown. With Bruzdewicz calling pitches and Rohaley delivering them, they've become a championship combination.

Even so, Bruzdewicz downplays his part.

“Give that man the ball and sort of stay out of his way,” Bruzdewicz said. “Sometimes coaches try to over-coach their teams. I'm really not a big ego guy. When Rohaley's on the mound, it's pretty much his game. I call all the pitches, he probably shakes me about 30 percent of the time. He's earned my trust. He's allowed to shake me.”

Rohaley is 12-1 with a 0.75 ERA entering Friday's PIAA Class 6A championship at Penn State. The Wheeling Jesuit recruit pitched Tuesday, but he's expected to take the mound at 3:30 p.m. against District 1 champion Bensalem.

“He already told me he wants that ball,” Bruzdewicz said after the semifinal. “You know how Roh is. We'll see.”

Said Rohaley: “I've been dreaming about that since I was a little kid.”

Bensalem (23-3) could answer with right-hander Nick Dean, a Maryland recruit who's 6-3 with a 1.16 ERA. Dean threw 40 pitches in relief Tuesday, when Bensalem won 5-4 in eight innings.

But ace Stephen Aldrich (9-1, 0.69 ERA) is unavailable after starting the semifinal.

If Bruzdewicz chooses to not use Rohaley on short rest, he also has available Weston, a hard-throwing junior committed to Michigan. Weston started the PIAA quarterfinals and earned a one-inning save in the semifinals.

His top hitters are Weston, first baseman Ian Hess and shortstop Cam Walker. Weston is batting .313 with five homers and 27 RBIs. Hess leads with a .443 average and 28 RBIs. Walker bats .302.

Bruzdewicz, 50, was a two-time All-American pitcher at Allegheny College in the late-1980s. He was the North Coast Athletic Conference pitcher of the year in 1988, set a conference record with 119 strikeouts that season and was drafted by the Blue Jays in the 19th round. He spent two seasons in the minors with stops in Dunedin, Myrtle Beach and Medicine Hat.

Now, he's the coach they call “Buzz.”

Before coming to Canon-McMillan, Bruzdewicz called pitches for West Allegheny as an assistant coach there. Since he arrived in Canonsburg for the 2016 season, the Big Macs are 48-20. They reached the WPIAL semifinals his first two seasons before breaking through this year.

He took over a Big Macs team that went 13-7 and lost in the WPIAL first round.

“I'll be quite honest, I did not know that I was inheriting a good team,” Bruzdewicz said. “When I got there, I couldn't believe how much talent that we had. Young talent, and that talent has been with me three or four years.”

Chris Harlan is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at charlan@tribweb.com or via Twitter @CHarlan_Trib.

Tags: Canon-McMillan