Bednar returns to lead Mars past Hampton in WPIAL baseball semifinals

By: HSSN Staff
Thursday, May 24, 2018 | 9:57 PM

Mars junior Will Bednar had been sick the past several days and his start in Thursday's Class 5A semifinal was in doubt until game time.

But Bednar ultimately made Hampton feel ill with an outstanding performance at North Allegheny High School.

Bednar pitched a complete game, struck out 12 and allowed just one Talbots runner to reach second base as the Planets earned a berth in the WPIAL title game for the second consecutive season with a 4-0 victory.

Mars (15-5) will face North Hills in the finals at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Washington's Wild Things Park. Thursday's win was the eighth straight for the Planets.

“I feel a lot better today,” Bednar said. “I woke up Tuesday, I felt real crappy. Wednesday, I felt a little better. I had a good breakfast today, and I knew it was going to be a good day.”

Bednar retired the first eight batters he faced before Andy Kubay reached base with a bunt single.

“He's one of the best, if not the best, around at this point,” Talbots coach Gary Wilson said. “We knew that; we've seen him before. I thought our kids battled, we had some good at-bats. He's a tough guy to do that against.”

Hampton will play West Allegheny at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Washington & Jefferson's Ross Memorial Field in the consolation game. The winner there will enter the PIAA tournament as the WPIAL's No. 3 entry.

Early on, Hampton starter Phil Conti was matching zeroes with Bodnar.

Mars had runners on first and third with none out to start the game. But after Jon Wetherholt was caught stealing, Conti induced fly balls from the next two batters to get out of the jam.

The Planets finally broke through in the fourth inning. With runners on second and third and two outs, Anthony Michalski dropped a dunker into short right to score pinch runner Tom Sheehy and Jack Anderson, who also doubled.

Michaski came around with the third run after Mitchell Schultz doubled.

“Their guy, Phil Conti, threw very well,” Mars coach Andy Bednar said. “I know he's not an everyday pitcher, but he kept us off-balance. We squeaked out a couple of runs when we really needed them.”

The way the early portion of the game was going, both coaches said they thought the team that scored first would have an advantage.

Mars scored its final run in the fifth when Tyler Kowalkowski drew a bases-loaded walk. That was enough for Bednar, who allowed back-to-back singles for the first time with two outs in the seventh. Pinch runner Brendan Erka became the only Talbots runner to reach second base after Sean Mikulan hit his second single of the contest.

“Will didn't give any walks today,” coach Bednar said. “When you don't give away those freebies, it puts the pressure on their offense.”

The game was reeled off in just 1 hour, 38 minutes.

“When I was in the bullpen before the game, I felt better,” the younger Bednar said. “I had the fastball definitely working today, and I was also working with my cutter and my changeup.”

Hampton and Mars split two section games during the regular season.

George Guido is a freelance writer.

Tags: Hampton, Mars