A-K Valley PIAA baseball playoff preview capsule: Game for Monday, June 2, 2025

By: Michael Love
Sunday, June 1, 2025 | 5:04 PM

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PIAA baseball playoffs

Class 2A

First round

7-3 Riverview (15-7) vs. 10-1 Mercyhurst Prep (22-1)

4:30 p.m. Monday at Mercyhurst

Winner plays: Winner of 5-1 Tussey Mountain (13-10) and 7-2 Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (15-8) Thursday in quarterfinals (site/time TBD)

Players to watch: Zack Kruszewski, Mercyhurst Prep; Johnny Bertucci, Riverview

Extra bases: Riverview enters the PIAA playoffs for the first time since 2021, when it lost to then-District 10 Class A champ Kennedy Catholic at Slippery Rock University. The Raiders qualified for states with a 2-0 win over Laurel last Wednesday in the third-place consolation at Washington & Jefferson’s Ross Memorial Park. Sophomore Lukas Duncan struck out eight, walked two and surrendered four hits in the complete game to improve to 7-1. He also got Riverview on the board with an RBI single in the bottom of the first. Bertucci, a senior, and sophomore Red Roberts tallied two hits each in the victory. The shutout was the Raiders’ 12th of the season. Riverview gave up just six runs in four WPIAL playoff games. … Mercyhurst Prep defeated Greenville, 6-0, on Memorial Day to claim the District 10 title. The Lakers are undefeated against Pennsylvania opponents. Their only loss in 23 games came against Freedom Christian Academy from North Carolina in Myrtle Beach in mid-April. Mercyhurst Prep has won 11 games in a row. Mercyhurst Prep’s lineup is batting a collective .392 and is averaging 10.3 runs a game. Leading the offense is Kruszewski who owns a .478 average (32 for 67) with a team-best 26 RBIs. Senior first baseman/designated hitter Rocco Almonte also owns 26 RBIs. Seniors Tanner Ashton (23 RBIs) and Alex Manendo (22 RBIs) also are top run producers for the Lakers, who will enter the state playoffs for the first time since 2021 when, as the District 10 runner-up, they lost to WPIAL champion Hopewell, 1-0, in the first round. Several of the Mercyhurst Prep players traveled to Freeport last July to play in the annual Freeport International Baseball Invitational.

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Riverview