Mt. Lebanon baseball tops rival Upper St. Clair after wild 7th inning

By: Don Rebel
Wednesday, May 5, 2021 | 8:38 PM

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Mt. Lebanon scored two runs in the top of the seventh inning and then survived a bases-loaded no-outs situation in the bottom of the inning to beat Upper St. Clair, 4-3, Wednesday afternoon.

The loss prevents the Panthers from clinching a playoff berth in Section 2-6A, something the Blue Devils did last week.

“It’s a cliché, but it doesn’t matter what the records are, these games are bangers until the end,” Mt. Lebanon coach Patt McCloskey said. “It was that way (Tuesday), and it was that way (Wednesday).”

Mt. Lebanon defeated Upper St. Clair, 7-3, Tuesday at Wildcat Field in Mt. Lebanon and the teams played there on the turf again 24 hours later thanks to the natural surface at Boyce-Mayview in Upper St. Clair being unplayable due to recent rains.

On Wednesday, the Panthers were the “home” team.

USC felt at home early on, scoring three runs on seven hits in the first two innings.

Senior Max Mandler and junior Jack Shearer delivered RBI singles in the first inning while Jake Casey singled home a run in the second.

However, on the Casey single, Mt. Lebanon right fielder Tanner Donati threw out Owen Mandler at the plate, and the tide started to turn to the Blue Devils.

In the top of the third inning, Auburn recruit Tyler Smith homered to right field off USC starter Eddie Albert. After a Matthew Delvaux single, he scored when senior Derrick Shields doubled to pull the Blue Devils to within one run.

After a shaky start, Shields gave his team a chance to win by allowing only one hit over his final four innings.

“They mashed us the first couple of innings, no matter what we threw,” McCloskey said. “All of a sudden, we found a pattern that worked for him, and it was all him. He competed and competed and gave us a chance late.”

The scored stayed 3-2 in favor of Upper St. Clair until the wild and crazy seventh inning.

Albert hit Donati with a pitch and Smith followed with a double with nobody out to put the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position.

Rob Henricks came in to try to save the game for the Panthers and induced a groundout before he intentionally walked Shields to load the bases.

Junior Paul Connolly hit a shot up the middle against a drawn-in infield. Shortstop Casey dove to his left to make a great play; however, his indecisiveness cost him as he turned and took a step toward second base, realized he had no play there, turned and threw late to first base as Donati scored.

Trevor Turkovich then hit a smash to Casey’s right. He knocked it down and got the force out at third base as Smith scored the go-ahead run.

Trailing for the first time, 4-3, heading to the bottom of the seventh inning, it looked like Upper St. Clair was going to match Mt. Lebanon’s rally.

With Delvaux on in relief for the Blue Devils, Owen Mandler was hit by a pitch, and Mateo Cepullio singled to put runners on the corners. When Cepullio stole second, Mt. Lebanon intentionally walked Casey to load the bases with no outs.

Delvaux struck out Hunter Schroeck and Mandler and got Shearer to fly out to right field to end the game.

“We lost two tough ones to these guys back in 2019,” McCloskey said. “We lost two on the last pitch of the game, so I’m very happy for the kids, especially the seniors to get that.”

Mt. Lebanon (6-4, 9-6) can finish in a tie for second place with Hempfield if the Spartans lose their final section game to Norwin. The Blue Devils have now won six straight.

Upper St. Clair (3-6, 6-8) has lost four games in a row but can still clinch a playoff berth with a win Thursday at home against Norwin. If the Panthers lose that game, they will need Baldwin and Canon-McMillan to split their two section games this week to clinch a playoff berth.

Tags: Mt. lebanon, Upper St. Clair