WPIAL Class 6A baseball final preview: Penn-Trafford vs. Pine-Richland

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Monday, May 27, 2019 | 8:32 PM

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WPIAL baseball championships

Class 6A

1-Penn-Trafford (18-3) vs. 2-Pine-Richland (17-4)

7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Wild Things Park, Washington

Coaches: Dan Miller, Penn-Trafford; Kurt Wolfe, Pine-Richland

Players to watch: Maclean Maund, Sr., P, Penn-Trafford; Matt Wood, Sr., C Pine-Richand

WPIAL titles: Penn-Trafford 0; Pine-Richland 5 (2017 6A; ’10 4A; ’06, ’05, ’04 3A)

How they got here: Penn-Trafford — Defeated Upper St. Clair in the quarterfinals 7-3; defeated North Allegheny, 7-2, in semifinals. Pine-Richland — Defeated Norwin in the quarterfinals 2-1; defeated Bethel Park, 6-0, in semifinals.

Extra bases: Penn-Trafford will try to win its first WPIAL title in its first finals appearance. The top-seeded Warriors, section champions for the first time since 2007, set the tone with a big fifth inning in the semifinals against North Allegheny as Mario Disso delivered a two-run triple, and pitcher Tyler Horvat scattered six hits and did not walk a batter. The sure-gloved Warriors did not commit an error. Luke Fabac added two RBIs in the semis. The Warriors defeated Pine-Richland, 13-2, earlier in the season, touching up the Rams for 10 hits. Maund struck out six. Disso doubled and drove in four runs, and Fabac tripled and had three RBIs in the win. Maund, a Seton Hill commit, is 6-0 with a 1.75 ERA. … Pine-Richland is 15-1 since the early loss to Penn-Trafford. Matt Schietroma struck out five and scattered seven hits in a semifinal shutout of Bethel Park. Schietroma is 5-0 with a 1.74 ERA, and Tommy Beam is 4-0 with a 1.30 ERA and 54 Ks. Troy LaNeve (.349, 21 RBIs) and Chase Vrabel each had two hits in the semis. Jake Maley (.368, 18 runs) ripped a walk-off single as the Rams edged Norwin in the quarterfinals. Pine-Richland won the WPIAL title two years ago 3-2 over North Allegheny. Wood is hitting .459 with 24 RBIs. The Rams have been wearing throwback uniforms to emulate the 1975 team, led by coach Rick Frederick.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Penn-Trafford, Pine-Richland