Westmoreland baseball preview capsules: Games for Monday, May 21, 2018

By: HSSN Staff
Sunday, May 20, 2018 | 5:15 PM

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Class 6A

Quarterfinals

No. 3 Hempfield (15-5) vs. No. 6 Pine-Richland (14-6)

4:30 p.m. Tuesday at West Mifflin

Winner plays: Winner of No. 2 Bethel Park (17-3)/No. 10 North Allegheny (11-10)

Coaches: Tim Buzzard, Hempfield; Kurt Wolfe, Pine-Richland

Players to watch: Luke Hudson, Hempfield (Jr., OF); Matt Wood, Pine-Richland (Jr., C)

Extra bases: Hempfield looks to advance the semifinals for the second time in three years. The Spartans won the Section 2 title and earned a bye. Hudson, Isaiah DeAndreth and Traynor Granatire hit at or above .400 in the regular season. Jake Anderson leads the Spartans with a 1.21 ERA and 32 strikeouts in 40 ¹⁄₃ innings pitched. … Pine-Richland, the defending Class 6A champion, scored a 5-1 win over Peters Township in the first round. Wood, a Penn State, recruit, is hitting .444 with eight doubles and three homers. Matt Scheitroma, a junior, carries a 6-1 record with a 0.63 ERA and 45 strikeouts to 10 walks in 55 ¹⁄₃ innings pitched.

Class 5A

Quarterfinals

No. 6 Franklin Regional (15-4) vs. No. 3 North Hills (17-3)

4 p.m. Tuesday at Shaler

Winner plays: Winner ofNo.2 West Allegheny (12-1)/No. 7 Chartiers Valley (10-7)

Coaches: Bobby Saddler; Franklin Regional; Randy Miller, North Hills

Players to watch: Alex Frey, Franklin Regional (Sr., P); Garret Barto, North Hills (Sr., IF)

Extra bases: Franklin Regional erupted for seven runs in the fourth inning on its way to an 11-2 first round win over Montour. Jake Williams went 3 for 3 with a pair of walks and three RBIs and Frey pitched six innings and struck out eight to add to his total of 63 for the season. The Panthers lost in the quarterfinals last year. … North Hills, the Section 1 champion, hopes to avoid a repeat of last year, when it received a bye as the No. 3 seed and lost to Chartiers Valley in the quarterfinals. Barto has a .537 batting average with five homers and 30 RBIs. North Hills went 8-2 over its last 10 regular-season games and finished on a four-game winning streak.

Class 4A

Quarterfinals

No. 8 Greensburg Salem (12-5) vs. No. 1 Blackhawk (16-1)

4:30 p.m. Monday at Seneca Valley

Winner plays: Winner of No. 2 Ringgold (14-3)/No. 12 New Castle (12-9)

Coaches: Bill Wisniewski, Greensburg Salem; Bob Amalia, Blackhawk

Players to watch: Jack Oberdorf, Greensburg Salem (Jr., SS); Michael Turconi, Blackhawk (Sr., IF/P)

Extra bases: Greensburg Salem earned its first postseason victory in six years with an 8-2 win over South Park in the first round. Oberdorf had three hits in the win. Matt Wicker hit a two-run home run and was the winning pitcher with eight strikeouts in 5 ²⁄₃ innings. The Golden Lions have not made the semifinals in more than 20 years. … Blackhawk, the defending champion, received a bye after winning the Section 2 title. The Cougars' lone loss came against Class 5A Mars in the final game of the regular season. Turconi, a Wake Forest recruit, has a .609 batting average with 24 RBIs and sports a 5-0 record with a 0.67 ERA and 56 strikeouts. Blackhawk has three WPIAL titles.

Class A

Quarterfinals

No. 5 Jeannette (12-3) vs. No. 4 Quigley Catholic (13-1)

4:30 p.m. Monday at Fox Chapel

Winner plays: Winner of No. 1 Vincentian (13-4)/No. 8 Cornell (10-4)

Coaches: Marcus Clarkson Jeannette; Kip Richeal, Quigley

Players to watch: Drake Petrillo, Jeannette (Jr., 1B); Jonathan Jansma, Quigley (Sr., P/IF)

Extra bases: Tre Cunningham tossed a one-hitter with a dozen strikeouts for defending champion Jeannette in a 2-0 win over Leechburg in the first round. Cunningham has 51 strikeouts on the year and has done damage at the plate to the tune of a WPIAL-leading .632 batting average. Tyler Elliott and Seth Howard had two hits and drove in a run apiece in the playoff opener. … Quigley Catholic received a bye after posting a 12-0 record in Section 3 and has won 13 in a row after losing its opener. Jansma is a two-way standout, hitting .542 with four doubles and 20 RBIs and is 3-1 with a 2.19 ERA and 36 strikeouts over 22 ¹⁄₃ innings. Nick Duer and John Evans are also hitting better than .400 for the Spartans.

No. 3 Greensburg Central Catholic (12-5) vs. No. 6 Eden Christian (8-7)

2 p.m. Monday at Fox Chapel

Winner plays: Winner of No. 7 Monessen (11-6)/No. 2 Union (12-3)

Coaches: Dennis Reist, Greensburg Central Catholic; Steve Good, Eden Christian

Players to watch: Antonio Cavallo, Greensburg Central Catholic (Sr., P); Dylan Kingan, Eden Christian (Sr., P)

Extra bases: Greensburg Central Catholic won its last five Section 2 games en route to winning the section title and earning a bye. Cavallo is a dual threat. He has a .510 batting average with eight doubles and 39 strikeouts in 25 ²⁄₃ innings. Bryce Kurpiel, a junior, hit .595. The Centurions lost to rival Jeannette in the final last year. They won the WPIAL title in 2015. … Kingan drove in three runs and struck out seven to lead Eden Christian to a 12-4 win over Rochester in the first round. Kingan improved to 5-2 on the season and moved his strikeout total to 57. Eden Christian lost to Jeannette in the quarterfinals last year.

No. 7 Monessen (11-6) vs. No. 2 Union (12-3)

2 p.m. Monday at Burkett Park, Robinson

Winner plays: Winner of No. 3 Greensburg Central Catholic (12-5)/No. 6 Eden Christian (8-7)

Coaches: Bill Matush, Monessen; Bill Sanders, Union

Players to watch: Cory Fleming, Monessen (Sr., P); Matt Costello, Union (Sr., P.)

Extra bases: Monessen scored its first playoff win in school history, defeating Western Beaver, 2-0, in the first round. Fleming struck out 13 in a five-hitter. Tyler Swann drove in both of the Greyhounds' runs. The Greyhounds are 4-1 over their last five games. … Union split the Section 1 title with Vincentian and earned a bye. Costello hit .571 in the regular season and had a 0.77 ERA with 32 strikeouts in 27 ¹⁄₃ innings. The Scotties advanced the semifinals last year, where they lost to Jeannette.

Tags: Franklin Regional, Greensburg Salem, Hempfield Area, Jeannette, Monessen