Serra Catholic rallies late to finish sweep of Ligonier Valley baseball

By: Jose Negron
Tuesday, April 18, 2023 | 8:12 PM

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The bat and the right arm of sophomore Tyler Skaggs helped Serra Catholic secure a Section 3-2A sweep of Ligonier Valley on Tuesday afternoon.

Skaggs knocked in the go-ahead run with a fifth-inning double and tossed 4 2/3 innings of no-hit baseball in the Eagles’ 7-4 win over the Rams at the Boston Ballfields.

His offensive heroics came with the score tied 4-4 and two outs in the bottom of the fifth.

After Joey DeMoss singled and stole second, Skaggs lined an RBI double into right field to give Serra a 5-4 lead. The Eagles (10-2, 5-1) added insurance runs in the sixth inning on an RBI ground-rule double by Ethan Coddington and an RBI single by Zach Karp.

But it was the clutch hit by Skaggs, who entered the game hitting .435, that made the biggest difference for the winners.

“He’s just seeing the ball real well right now,” Serra Catholic coach Brian Dzurenda said of Skaggs. “We’ve been working with him a lot on hitting the ball to right field, and he was able to do it there.”

Skaggs’ performance on the mound was admirable, too.

DeMoss and Owen Dumbroski experienced their share of struggles, allowing a combined four earned runs on four hits with three walks and a strikeout in the first 2 1/3 innings.

Skaggs entered in relief and was unhittable, consistently throwing his curveball for strikes and striking out nine of the 13 batters he faced. He struck out the side in the sixth and seventh innings to preserve the win.

“I’ve said it since the kid was a freshman: The sky is the limit for Tyler Skaggs,” Dzurenda said. “I knew he could be dominant, and I knew he could be a star. For young pitchers, we usually try to ease them into situations, but he steps up big time when in those spots.”

A day after suffering an 8-2 loss to Serra on its home field, Ligonier Valley (7-4, 5-3) struck for the opening runs of the game in the top of the second.

Adam Moreland led off with a walk before Logan Johnston, who had two of the Rams’ four hits, lined a single into right field. A sacrifice bunt by Tyler Smith allowed the runners to move up, and Duncan Foust plated the game’s first run on an RBI groundout. One batter later, Colin Michaels made it a 2-0 game on an RBI double that sailed over the head of Skaggs in right field.

Johnston picked up his second hit in the third, as he added a two-run double into the gap in left-center field.

The Eagles plated four runs with two outs in the bottom of the second. DeMoss reached on a single, and Skaggs reached on an error before Max Black stepped to the plate and worked his way into a 3-2 count. The freshman then lined a two-run double into the left-center gap to tie the score.

“Max struggled a bit on Monday, but he looked like a different guy today,” Dzurenda said.

Black was one of four Serra players to finish with multi-hit performances, joining Coddington, DeMoss and Isiah Petty, who added an RBI single in the second before eventually scoring Serra’s fourth run of the inning on a Ligonier Valley error.

Ligonier Valley will take a break from section play to host East Allegheny on Friday.

Serra, winner of four in a row, will have some time to prepare for its next series, which begins Monday at Jeannette.

Tags: Ligonier Valley, Serra Catholic