Top 15 baseball finals in 15 years at Wild Things Park: Riverside shuts out Neshannock in 2016

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, May 25, 2018 | 11:48 PM

The TribLive High School Sports Network is counting down the Top 15 WPIAL baseball championship games held over the past 15 years at Wild Things Park.

Catch all the postseason action on the exclusive broadcast home of the WPIAL baseball playoffs, the TribLive High School Sports Network.

Here's a look at No. 4:

2016 Class AA championship: Riverside 1, Neshannock 0

Over the years, many baseball coaches have told their teams that all you need is one more run than the opponent. In the WPIAL Class AA championship game in 2016, all Riverside needed was one run to beat Neshannock in a pitcher's duel classic at Consol Energy Park.

The pitching was so good, the game's only run didn't come until the bottom of the ninth inning.

Michael Boswell of Riverside and Frank Fraschetti of Neshannock were tremendous on the turf hill.

Boswell pitched the limit of nine innings, allowing only three hits and striking out five. Fraschetti, who shut out Quaker Valley, 4-0, in the 2015 district title game, pitched 8 ²⁄₃ and gave up an unearned run on six hits with two strikeouts.

The only run scored when Kolby Wolfe reached on a Neshannock error to lead off the ninth. He was sacrificed to second by Austin Dambach. Following an out and an intentional walk, Braden Bentel came to the plate for the Panthers.

The senior delivered the golden run with a single to center field. The throw from Lancers center fielder Dan Welker was strong but toward the first base side of home plate. Neshannock catcher Brandon Scheidmantle dove back toward the plate, but his tag was late on Wolfe's hook slide.

Riverside celebrated dethroning Neshannock and winning the school's first baseball title in five years.

The win was historic for another reason. For legendary Panthers coach Dan Oliastro, it was career victory No. 600.

The 1-0 victory, only the second such score in extra innings in WPIAL baseball championship history, also marked the end of an incredible district postseason for Riverside. The Panthers became the first team in more than 60 years to register four straight postseason shutouts after beating New Brighton, 10-0; Steel valley, 10-0; and Keystone Oaks, 2-0; prior to the blanking of Neshannock in dramatic fashion.

Don Rebel is a TribLive High School Sports Network broadcaster and staff writer. Reach him at drebel@tribweb.com.

Tags: Neshannock, Riverside