Burrell baseball earns wild victory over Charleroi in 1st-round slugfest

By: Liam Belan
Thursday, May 15, 2025 | 10:05 PM

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Many first-round playoff baseball games are grudge matches on the mound with one or two runs being scored against the best pitchers each side has to offer.

During Thursday’s WPIAL Class 3A opener, it was the offenses of No. 8 Burrell and No. 9 Charleroi that engaged in a heavyweight battle, trading blows until two runs in the bottom of the sixth gave the Bucs a 10-9 victory.

“It was a bit sloppy in the start, but we got the job done,” Burrell coach Jay Miller said. “If you stay clean, you’re going to have a better chance of winning, and I guess we just overcame some of our mistakes here today. But we got the bat on the ball when we needed to, and we got crucial at-bats from the bottom of the lineup.”

Burrell (13-8) will face No. 1 Riverside on Tuesday at a site and time to be determined.

The Buccaneers trailed 9-7 entering the bottom of the fifth and came up with three runs over the fifth and sixth to regain control. After trailing 7-4 following the third, the Cougars (10-7) rattled off five runs during the fourth and fifth innings to retake a lead.

Both teams allowed runs on errors as both coaches admitted it wasn’t their squad’s best day defensively.

“We battled. It’s never a question of heart with our kids,” Charleroi coach Luke Mollis said. “They care, and they will always play hard. Unfortunately, we just didn’t play a clean enough game to win. A couple of errors here, leave a few runners on there, don’t move a runner over at times — when you play these types of games, that’s usually the difference.”

Both teams wasted no time getting on the board. Dylan Klinger opened the game with a four-pitch walk against Brayden Mell before Brock Henderson grounded into a fielder’s choice. Jace Pager bunted Henderson over to second for the second out to set up Kaden Woods with a runner in scoring position, and he did his job with a single to center that brought Henderson home for a 1-0 advantage.

The Cougars continued their two-out rally as Lazer Glasser crushed a double through the gap at left-center to open a 2-0 lead.

That strong start gave Jake Gelder a small cushion to work with, but the Buccaneers got after him immediately and took control.

Rayden Shirey singled on Gelder’s second offering of the game before Adam Wass bunted out for the first of the frame. Trey Coury then singled on a soft-hit ball to short.

With runners on first and second, Mell drew a walk to load the bases. That brought Nolan Brouwer into the batter’s box, but Gelder got the better of him with his first strikeout of the game.

The Bucs didn’t waver with two outs as Parker Logut stepped up and hit a two-RBI single to tie the score. Ryan Bates then loaded the bases again with a walk before Ryan Wass hit another two-RBI single to make it 4-2.

With two down, David Kleckner almost extended Burrell’s lead even further, but Jackson Keranko made a sliding grab in left field to end the inning. After the first, Mell had delivered 28 pitches and Gelder 36. All six runs were scored with two outs.

In the bottom of the second, it seemed that Gelder settled in with two quick outs, but the Bucs again added a run.

Coury walked and advanced to second on a wild pitch before Mell helped himself out with an RBI single to make the score 5-2.

In the top of the third, Charleroi lucked out on two fly balls that were lost in the sun to plate two runs and cut into the Burrell lead.

The Cougars essentially popped out four times in the inning, but right fielder Bryce Hrivnak lost two of them as they dropped next to him for doubles. Woods flew out to left for the first out before Glasser doubled on a ball to the right of Hrivnak. Keranko then flew out to center, and it seemed that Braeden Todaro would end the inning with a ball high in the air to Hrivnak, but it again dropped to the turf for a two-RBI double.

Fortunately for the Bucs, they were able to regain their three-run margin in the bottom half of the third. Gelder tallied his third and final strikeout before a walk of Bates ended his day after throwing 65 pitches in 2 1/3 innings. Jake Corrin took the mound and, after Bates stole second, Ryan Wass singled to bring him home. Kleckner then roped a double to push the Buccaneers’ lead to 7-4 lead before Corrin settled down with two outs to retire the side.

Once again, Charleroi responded and tied the score with three more runs to open the fourth. Facing a new pitcher in Stephen Hasson, Klinger drew another walk and then scored on a monstrous triple from Henderson that went about 300 feet to left field. Pager hit a sacrifice fly to right as Mell moved from the mound to right field, grabbing the first out of the inning with the score at 7-6.

With two outs and runners on the corners, Keranko looked to take second and Kleckner threw to Hasson for an attempted pickoff play at third, but the pitcher’s toss was over the head of Shirey at third and allowed Glasser to score and tie things up.

The Cougars then proceeded to take their first lead since the top of the first with another two runs in the top of the fifth.

Shirey committed an error on a ground ball that allowed Logan Usher to score, and Henderson singled for his third hit of the day to bring Masyn Grooms home and give the Cougars a 9-7 advantage.

The game’s frantic offensive pace continued in the home half of the fifth when the Bucs scored on an error from Pager, allowing Bates to score and Shirey to reach first, but Adam Wass grounded out to cut Burrell’s deficit to 9-8.

In the top of the sixth, as Woods took the mound, the Bucs pulled back ahead with two runs.

Coury singled, stole second and took third on a wild pitch. Mell drew a walk and stole second before Brouwer flew out for the first out of the inning. Logut was then intentionally walked to give Charleroi forceouts at all bases, but Bates came up big with a single to tie the score at 9-9. Then, Ryan Wass did his job and won the game with a sacrifice fly that scored Mell to finally end the scoring at 10-9.

Tags: Burrell, Charleroi