H.S. baseball notebook: Greensburg CC inspired by Warren Schaeffer’s rise with Rockies

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Sunday, May 18, 2025 | 4:10 PM

If Warren Schaeffer can achieve his dream, so can anybody from Greensburg Central Catholic.

The former Centurions star’s meteoric rise in the Colorado Rockies’ coaching ranks has caught the attention of the current team just in time for the WPIAL Class A playoffs.

Schaeffer, who helped lead GCC to a PIAA championship in 2002, recently was named interim manager of the Rockies after the firing of Bud Black.

A terrific shortstop when he wore maroon, Schaeffer has made his alma mater proud.

“He played at Virginia Tech, right?” GCC catcher Anthony Grippo said. “That’s pretty cool.”

GCC coach John Boyle is impressed by what Schaeffer has done, first getting drafted by Colorado in 2007 and toiling in the minors for a decade before the coaching bug bit him.

“You look at something like that, a kid coming from GCC, it kind of challenges you,” Boyle said. “A Central guy making it that far, it’s an inspiration.”

GCC, the No. 5 seed in Class A, breezed to a 14-0 win over Sewickley Academy in its playoff opener to move to 18-2. It will play No. 4 Bishop Canevin at 4 p.m. Tuesday at West Mifflin in the quarterfinals.

Close-call ’Cats

Latrobe has gotten used to playing close games. The Wildcats continue to show a knack for hanging around, still having a chance late and winning one-run games.

They edged Fox Chapel, 2-1, in the WPIAL 5A first round for their eighth one-run decision of the season.

Ninth-seeded Latrobe is 6-2 in those games.

“We play good teams and do what we have to do to get the win for the team. That’s all that matters,” Wildcats senior outfielder Mason Leonard said. “However it needs to be done, we will get it done.”

The Wildcats (15-6) will play No. 1 seed Pine-Richland (18-3) at 4 p.m. Monday at Plum in the quarterfinals.

State qualifiers

The following number of teams from each WPIAL classification will advance to the PIAA playoffs:

Class 6A: 1; Class 5A: 4; Class 4A: 3; Class 3A: 4; Class 2A: 3; Class A: 4.

The state tournaments begin June 2.

One and done

The five Section 3-3A co-champs — Freeport, Burrell, Mt. Pleasant Ligonier Valley and Deer Lakes — finished 1-4 in the WPIAL first round.

Burrell was only winner. The Bucs edged Charleroi, 10-9.

6A begins

The WPIAL Class 6A playoffs finally get going Monday.

The two local quarterfinal matchups are No. 4 Norwin (12-7) vs. No. 5 Butler (11-8) at 4 p.m. at North Allegheny, and No. 8 Hempfield (8-12) plays No. 1 North Allegheny (14-6) at 7 p.m. at Boyce-Mayview Park in Upper St. Clair.

Big 5/6 honors

A number of Westmoreland County players were honored by the Big 5/6 Conference, which covers the two largest classifications in the WPIAL.

Senior infielder Quinn Wilkins of Hempfield, and senior outfielder Jake Sincak, senior infielder Nate Silberman and junior designated hitter Trevor Vitsas of Norwin were named first-team All-Section 2-6A.

Hempfield had four players on the second team: senior infielder Colin Polechko, junior infielder Owen Shuglie, junior outfielder Ian Kovalcik and junior DH Evan Dunlap. Norwin’s second-team picks were senior outfielder Ben Geissler and senior pitcher Ethen Culbertson.

The All-Section 1-5A first team included junior infielder John DeLuca of Kiski Area; senior outfielder NJ Ramchandran and senior pitcher Jonah Willochell of Franklin Regional; and the Penn-Trafford quartet of senior infielder Brayden Stone, junior catcher Colton Tyburski, senior DH Jason Malamisuro and senior utilityman Hunter Brown.

The second team selections were junior infielder Luke Williams and senior Ethan Raver of Franklin Regional; senior infielder Dimitri Spagnola and sophomore catcher Zachary Hald of Kiski Area; senior infielder Cooper Basciano, senior outfielders Mason Leonard and Eli Boring, junior pitcher Cole Short and senior DH Luke Nipar-Smith of Latrobe; and junior pitcher Dom Delio of Penn-Trafford.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Greensburg C.C., Latrobe, Norwin, Penn-Trafford