Burrell baseball’s focus in tough section race: ‘Just compete’

By: Bill Hartlep
Thursday, April 14, 2022 | 5:29 PM

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Burrell baseball coach Mark Spohn wanted to get a message across to his players after a hard-to-believe 1-0 loss to rival Valley last Friday.

The Bucs didn’t allow a hit – or allowed one hit, depending on the scorekeeper – and a ball didn’t leave the infield. Valley scored one run in the sixth inning when Ben Aftanas reached on an error, stole second base, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on Tyler Danko’s groundout.

Freshman Isaac Lacinski threw six innings with five strikeouts and junior Ryan Scheftic closed out the seventh, but the Bucs bats managed just two hits and couldn’t get on the board.

“Just compete,” Spohn said. “We talk about that all the time. After that loss, we just talked about how you approach every at-bat, how you approach every pitch. As a pitcher, how you compete. Everything matters. You don’t have time to take a pitch off here if you are a pitcher or give up a strike when you are a hitter. You have to be ready.”

The simple but effective message had an immediate impact as Burrell rebounded Tuesday with a 5-4 victory over Knoch in a Section 1-4A game on the road.

Senior Joe Druga allowed one run on three hits with 10 strikeouts over six innings and also was 2 for 3 with two RBIs at the plate.

“He’s just a competitor,” Spohn said of Druga. “He throws pretty hard, keeps the ball down, changes speeds pretty well. When he’s throwing strikes and hitting spots, he’s pretty tough to hit consistently.”

Senior Tristan Kenzovich, a Mercyhurst recruit, went 4 for 4 with a double and RBI, and sophomore AJ McLafferty and freshman Brady Stone closed out the final inning in relief.

“We had a good approach at the plate,” Druga said. “I feel like I executed my pitches well. We ran the bases well, sacrificed, played small ball. We didn’t make a lot of errors. We played really well defensively. It was a great approach.

“It was huge, especially after our loss on Friday to Valley. That does build confidence.”

The win helped Burrell improve to 2-4 overall and 1-2 in Section 1-4A. A second game against Knoch (3-2, 1-2) was postponed Wednesday and Thursday and is scheduled to be played at 3 p.m. Friday at No Offseason in Russellton.

The victory also helped the Bucs maintain their place in a congested section that also includes North Catholic (4-3, 4-0), Indiana (5-2, 3-1), Highlands (3-4, 1-3) and Freeport (2-5, 1-3). Burrell opened section play with 7-3 and 5-0 losses to North Catholic as some of the younger players got adjusted to varsity play.

Druga, Kenzovich and pitcher Phil Walsh are the team’s lone seniors this season, so the team is relying on several underclassmen and first-year varsity players to play key roles. A flu bug also has impacted several members of the team, which has vaulted some inexperienced players into high-pressure situations.

“You’re in very competitive baseball,” Spohn said of the intense two-game section series. “Some of these kids have not been accustomed to very competitive baseball yet. The expectations are really high, and the pressure is really high. They just have to step up and know how to approach it.”

Lacinski and Stone have made an immediate impact and are part of a 12-member freshmen class in the program this spring.

“They get thrown to the wolves early,” Spohn said. “There’s two ways to go. Some kids have the mentality of, ‘OK, I’m a competitor. I’ll get better.’ Other kids say, ‘I’m overwhelmed and cower down.’ I’m just hoping the competition comes out of them.”

Burrell will continue its run of section series games against Highlands next week. Games are set for Tuesday at Burrell and Wednesday at Highlands. Home-and-home series against Freeport and Indiana will follow the next two weeks as the Bucs chase a top-four finish and trip to the WPIAL playoffs. They finished fifth last season and narrowly missed out.

“This section is tough. Everything is up for grabs right now, based on how every team is performing,” Druga said. “I think we’re all around the same skill level. Highlands will definitely be a tough opponent. They have some good pitching. I think we’ll be fine with our approach.”

Bill Hartlep is the TribLive sports editor. A Pittsburgh native and Point Park graduate, he joined the Trib in 2004, covering high school sports. He held various editing roles before assuming his current position in 2019. He can be reached at bhartlep@triblive.com.

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