Latrobe gets out to big lead, holds off Plum rally to win baseball playoff opener

By: George Guido
Wednesday, May 19, 2021 | 8:24 PM

Purchase Photo Options

Purchase Photo Options

Purchase Photo Options

Purchase Photo Options

Purchase Photo Options

Previous Next

The Plum baseball team thought it had one more comeback in it. But Latrobe, up by seven runs after two innings, was able to hold on for an 8-7 victory in a WPIAL Class 5A first-round game Wednesday at Norwin High School.

The Wildcats broke out with seven runs and eight hits over the first two innings and added what proved to be the game winner with one in the fifth. Senior Alex Woodring pitched the first 5 1/3 innings and was relieved by Tommy Ciesielski, who recorded five-out save.

No. 12 Latrobe (12-8) will move on the quarterfinals against Peters Township on Friday at a site and time to be determined.

“We talked about being the visiting team and getting those first at-bats,” Latrobe coach Matt Basciano said. “About three-quarters of the way through, we started working on situational hitting a little bit more and cashing in when we can get those runners in.

“We’ve got to do it the whole game, and that’s what we’ll address tomorrow.”

Latrobe left 11 runners on base over the first five innings, including the bases loaded in the fourth and fifth.

Fifth-seeded Plum finished another successful season at 11-7, staging comebacks against Fox Chapel twice and Mars before coming up short on Wednesday.

“That’s a tough hill to climb. We dug ourselves in a pretty big hole,” Mustangs coach Carl Vollmer said. “We didn’t work ahead (in the count). We put guys on base early, and we did chip away and chip away.”

Trailing 8-5 to start the bottom of the seventh, John Ioannou led off with a single, and Christian Brown was hit by a pitch. Both runners moved up and came home on a single by Silvio Ionadi.

Ethan Kircher hit into a force play, and courtesy runner Nick Lamia took second on a two-out single by Matthew Frazetta. Caden Norcutt, however, was called out on strikes by a Ciesielski pitch that Norcutt and the large Plum contingent thought was outside.

The Wildcats quickly jumped on Plum starter Brady Dojonovic for four runs in the first. Chase Sickenberger and Tucker Knupp doubled, Erick Batista drew a bases-loaded walk and Drew Clair drove in two more runs with a single.

Sickenberger and Vinny Amatucci hit back-to-back doubles in the second, and Batista drove in two more with a single to make it 7-0.

“We did some things to hurt ourselves today,” Vollmer said. “If we play well, we can play with anybody and beat anybody. But we didn’t play well enough today.”

Knupp and Amatucci had three hits each for Latrobe.

“I just love this team,” Basciano said. “I love the team-first mentality that they have, and they have a lot of fun with it. Woody (Woodring) hit his spots today and kept them off-balance. That’s a very good Plum team.”

Wednesday’s win was the first playoff win for Latrobe since a victory in the 2017 PIAA finals against Whitehall.

Tags: Latrobe, Plum