Greensburg Central Catholic defeats rival Jeannette to reach PIAA baseball tournament

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, May 29, 2018 | 9:51 PM

Greensburg Central Catholic earned its fourth consecutive trip to the PIAA Class A playoffs by defeating rival Jeannette, 8-7, in the WPIAL consolation game.

A year ago, Jeannette and Greensburg Central Catholic met in the WPIAL championship game across the parking lot at Wild Things Park. This year, the two tangled at Washington & Jefferson's Ross Memorial Park, and the game had a little of everything.

But in the end, Greensburg Central Catholic (14-6) was able to capitalize on the wildness of the Jeannette pitchers in the sixth inning to advance.

“Any time you play Jeannette, it's going to be a crazy game,” Greensburg Central Catholic coach Dennis Reist said. “I liked the way both teams battled.”

With Jeannette leading 7-6 after scoring two runs in the top of the sixth inning, GCC scored the tying and winning runs with a little help.

Paul Rice began the rally with a single. Courtesy runner Zach Kuvinka swiped second base but was injured on the play and replaced by Alex Miller. Miller moved to third on a wild pitch and, an out later, scored on another wild pitch to tie the score at 7-7 as Joel LoNigro walked.

LoNigro stole second, but starting pitcher Tre Cunningham struck out Danny Erdely. Because Cunningham reached his 100-pitch limit, Jeannette coach Marcus Clarkson replaced him with Seth Howard, who walked Nick Ruggieri and James Rice to load the bases.

Clarkson replaced Howard with Tyler Elliott, who walked Thomas Voekler to force home LoNigro for an 8-7 lead.

Jeannette (13-5) got the leadoff hitter on in the seventh when GCC pitchers hit a Jayhawk for the fifth time in the game. Bruce Leonard relieved James Rice and endured the threat to pick up the save.

“Antonio fought through some control problems,” Reist said. “James came in and calmed things down and held it together. The bottom of the order got on, and the top did the business.”

The Centurions had a 3-0 lead in the first inning when starting pitcher Antonio Cavallo tripled home two runs and Cavallo scored on a ground out.

“I've been struggling at the plate in the playoffs,” Cavallo said. “I just tried barreling the ball and not overthinking it.”

Cavallo had two hits and two RBIs.

Jeannette made it 3-2 in the third inning on Drake Petrillo's two-run single. Petrillo went 4 for 4 with three RBIs.

GCC scored three runs in the bottom of the third inning to make it 6-2, highlighted by Bryce Kurpiel's straight steal of home.

But Jeannette chased Cavallo in the fourth after he hit his third and fourth batters, and Zander Malik had a two-run double to make it 6-5.

“I wasn't with it and wasn't gripping the ball the way I normally do,” Cavallo said. “I wasn't thinking the way I should have. I just tried to gut it out. I just had no control of my curveball.”

Jeannette also hurt itself on the basepaths, with three runners cut down trying to advance. One of the biggest plays came in the fifth inning after Petrillo and Derrick Miller singled. Nick Caesar then reached on an error, but Petrillo rounded the third base bag too far and was thrown out at the plate.

“I don't know what happened the last few games,” Clarkson said. “We've made some mistakes on the basepaths, and every out is important. We ran into some outs and made some mistakes, and it cost us.”

While Jeannette missed an opportunity in the fifth, it cashed in on two two-out RBI singles by Petrillo and Miller in the sixth inning to grab a 7-6 lead.

Then GCC showed its mettle and pulled out the win.

Paul Schofield is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at pschofield@tribweb.com or via Twitter @Schofield_Trib.

Tags: Greensburg C.C., Jeannette