PIAA Baseball Semifinals Monday Recap

By: HSSN Staff
Monday, June 8, 2015 | 11:06 PM

The state championship set was supposed to be set after Monday, however Mother Nature had other plans. Five of the six baseball and softball games scheduled were postponed by the forecast of heavy rain and stormy weather, however the rematch of the 2015 WPIAL Class AA Baseball Championship Game did take place early Monday afternoon.

A special thanks to Lou Rood for his help on this recap.

BASEBALL:

PIAA Class AA Semifinals:
Neshannock Lancers 7 – Quaker Valley Quakers 2

Chippewa Park played host to the PIAA AA Baseball Semifinal between Neshannock and Quaker Valley, a rematch of the WPIAL Championship game won by the Lancers 4-0.  Neshannock defeated Steel Valley 13-3 in the Quarterfinals while Quaker Valley had defeated Upper Daughin 5-1 to gain a spot in the semis. In the WPIAL Championship the Lancers had jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first and that was all pitcher Frank Fraschetti needed as he dispatched the Quakers in just 66 pitches while giving up just 3 hits as Neshannock recorded its 6th WPIAL Championship.  Quaker Valley was hoping the history would not repeat itself but quickly went down 1-2-3 in the top of the first as Frank Fraschetti worked his magic on the mound once again.  In the bottom half of the inning trouble once again struck the Quakers as Neshannock struck for 3 runs on a leadoff double by Ray Scalia, a walk to Rich Serengese and a 2 run double by Jake Swope.  Swope scored on the play as an errant throw allowed him to come home and the damage was done.  After no scoring in the 2nd, Quaker Valley was able to come up with a run in the top of the 3rd when Nick Saladino hit his first of 3 singles in the game, moved to second on a walk to Colin Jackovic, but was erased on a fielder’s choice by Chris Tanabe when he was tagged out by Jake Swope who then threw wildly to first allowing Jackovic to move to 3rd and Tanabe to ‘second. Alex Tanabe then singled home Jackovic with the Quaker’s first run.  Both runners advanced up a base when Neshannock missed an opportunity to get the lead runner Chris Tanabe on the throw from the outfield when he slipped rounding 3rd and made the play on Alex Tanabe who was safe on the throw. Fraschetti pitched out of the jam by getting Adam Pilowicz to ground out to short to end the inning.  Neschannock wasted no time in answering as Dom Collucci crushed a 2-2 fastball over the 250 foot mark in left center field to up the lead to three runs once again.  After no scoring in the 4th, Neshannock broke the game open in the 5th inning striking with 2 outs as QV pitcher Tyler Garbee gave up back to back walks to bring up Collucci to the plate.  Again working the count to 2-2. Collucci was looking for an offspeed pitch and Garbee delivered a changeup that the big first baseman turned on and drove deep into the trees over the left field fence.  The three run home run made it 7-1 and gave Collucci 2 HR’s and 4 RBI’s for the game.  Quaker Valley was able to get a run back in the top of the 7th, but that was it and when Scalia settled under Jackovic’s infield pop-up, the Lancers were headed to State College to play for the PIAA AA Championship.  Fraschetti picked up the win going the distance, giving up 2 runs on 6 hits, walking 1 and striking out 3.  He entered the top of the 7th having thrown only 58 pitches but unofficially ended up over 70 after giving up 3 hits in the 7th.  Still it was another prime performance by the junior hurler.  Quaker Valley finishes the season at 17-6 while Neshannock improves to 19-5.  Next stop for the Lancers is State College and a chance at a 2nd State Championship in school history.