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Penn-Trafford baseball tops Norwin, looks to improve for playoff push

By: HSSN Staff
Wednesday, May 2, 2018 | 9:06 PM

If the Penn-Trafford and Norwin baseball teams want to make noise in the WPIAL Class 6A playoffs in two weeks, they admittedly have improvements to make.

Penn-Trafford moved into a tie for second place in Section 2 by defeating its neighboring rival 9-4 at home Wednesday. Hempfield (8-2, 13-5) won the section by defeating Connellsville.

The Warriors (7-3, 9-5) took advantage of 10 walks and got timely hits from Tyler Horvat and Mario Disso to defeat the Knights (5-5, 6-6) for the second time this season. Penn-Trafford only had four hits, including a double and single by Zach Mancz.

“It certainly wasn't a pretty game,” Penn-Trafford coach Dan Miller said. “We talk about meeting the demands of the game, and we certainly didn't meet them. But with 10 walks, we did have timely hitting. It was disheartening that we didn't pound the baseball.”

Norwin sophomore left-hander Aiden Shephard didn't get out of the first inning after walking six and allowing five runs. A bases-loaded hit by Horvat and a throwing error from the outfield allowed the Warriors to clear the bases.

Norwin coach Mike Liebdzinski said Shephard has had problems lately throwing strikes.

“He's good for a couple innings, and then he struggles,” Liebdzinski said. “He couldn't throw strikes. Ten walks and sprinkle in a few errors, you can't play baseball like that. It's something we have two weeks to correct.”

Norwin, however, chased P-T starter Christian Pfrogner in the second inning by scoring four times, taking advantage of two errors. Nick Zona had a two-run single and Jaden Walker an RBI hit for the Knights.

But Penn-Trafford relief pitcher Tyler Chrise calmed things down, and he and Max Pici didn't allow the Knights to score.

Horvat had three RBIs and Disso had two for P-T.

“It was a good win for us,” Horvat said. “Norwin has made a couple playoff runs lately. So to go out and sweep them was nice. We set out to win the section, but we fell short. Hopefully, we can put ourselves in a good playoff position to make a deep run.”

Miller said he didn't think his team was crisp enough Wednesday. The Warriors committed three errors, didn't hit well and the trio of pitchers walked three batters.

He's hoping to clean things up with nonsection games against Gateway, Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic, Franklin Regional and Moon.

“I don't like where we are at,” Miller said. “We're a playoff team, and I believe we can compete against anybody when we play all three phases of the game. Our calling card has always been defense and pitching, and if we get some timely hitting I feel we can compete. We need to clean up defense and pitching.”

Horvat said the nonsection games will play a key role in how the season plays out.

“We're going to find out what type of mettle we have,” Horvat said. “I have full confidence in this team that we can make a deep run, and we're going to see if that is true.”

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

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