Top 15 baseball finals in 15 years at Wild Things Park: West Allegheny beats Blackhawk in 8 innings

By: HSSN Staff
Monday, May 28, 2018 | 9:30 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. 1:

2014 Class AAA championship: West Allegheny 5, Blackhawk 3 (8 inn.)

One of the biggest crowds in WPIAL baseball finals history came to catch a glimpse of Brendan McKay-mania. What they ended up seeing was an instant classic that shocked the district baseball world as West Allegheny stunned Blackhawk.

The Indians first snapped Brenden McKay's record scoreless streak, then they snapped McKay's winning streak by plating two runs in the eighth inning to stun the top-seeded Cougars, 5-3.

There were plenty of green and gold-clad Blackhawk fans and red and black-wearing West Allegheny fans at Consol Energy Park. But there were also plenty of neutral fans who came to see the phenomenal McKay in action.

A senior, McKay was closing out a career for the ages. For the 2014 season, McKay finished 8-1 (the lone loss in this title game vs. West A) with an ERA of 0.56 and 130 strikeouts in 69 innings pitched.

But fans were caught up in the biggest WPIAL “streak” since the 66 wins in a row by Clairton football.

Coming into the championship game, McKay had not allowed a run in 69 straight innings, the third longest scoreless streak in national high school history and only 11 innings from the all-time record for a high school pitcher.

That streak would end at 71 ²⁄₃ with two outs in a scoreless top of the third. Nic Daigle, running for Colin Claus who had singled, scored on a Tyler Amedure double just inside the first base bag. It was the first run allowed by McKay since April 25 of his junior season.

Michael Cummings then followed with an RBI single as West Allegheny grabbed a 2-0 lead.

The Indians added to that surprising advantage in the fourth when Jake Cunningham's run-scoring single plated Brandon Pouch, who had singled and was sacrificed to second by Claus.

But Blackhawk evened the score in its half of the fourth and chased West Allegheny starting pitcher Claus. Chase Migliore and McKay singled, and after a wild pitch scored Migliore, McKay came home on a triple by Joe Campagna. Campagna scored the tying run on a single by Cody Bain.

The game stayed tied as the tension grew through innings five, six and seven.

West Allegheny took the lead for good when Amedure hit his second double of the game off McKay. He scored the go-ahead run on another RBI single by Cummings. The Indians picked up an insurance run on all-out hustle by Cummings, who scored from second on a groundout.

Amedure not only did damage with his bat, but also with his arm, allowing no runs on one hit over the final five innings in relief to pick up the win.

The improbable title run was the third in eight years for West Allegheny. The Indians won back-to-back crowns in 2007 and ‘08. Their bid to repeat again came up short in the 2015 finals when they fell to Knoch, 5-1.

McKay suffered only his second loss in his hall-of-fame high school career. He allowed five runs on eight hits in eight innings of work. He walked none and struck out 10.

McKay ended his career with a 30-2 record. He starred at Louisville for three years both on the mound and at the plate before being drafted in the first round by Tampa Bay last June.

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

Tags: Blackhawk, West Allegheny