Bethel Park gets past Moon for rare 2-game sweep in Section 2-5A baseball

By: Don Rebel
Wednesday, April 23, 2025 | 10:57 PM

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Section 2-5A in WPIAL baseball has become the land of the splits.

There have been 15 section series played between the seven teams and 11 of them have ended up with the teams splitting their two-game series.

Two of the four sweeps have been handed out by Bethel Park, including a 4-3 victory over Moon on Wednesday that gave the Black Hawks back-to-back close wins over the Tigers.

“This year (our section) lost Connellsville and we gained Moon and Char Valley,” Bethel Park coach Patrick Zehnder said. “Moon is so much better than their record. They and Char Valley are the bottom two teams record wise, which just shows how strong this section is.

“It’s a lot of fun. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t mind a couple of easy wins, but there are none. If this doesn’t get you battle tested, I don’t know what can.”

A day after losing to BP at home, it looked good for a split when Moon jumped on top with two runs in the top of the first inning.

Josh Longwell walked and stole second base, then scored on an RBI single by Angelo Fachet.

Following a steal of second base, Fachet scored on a two-out single by Connor Kunkle.

However, Bethel Park responded with two runs in the bottom of the inning when Ryan Petras was hit by a pitch, stole second and scored on a double to the left-center field fence by Ethan Stanhoff.

“I knew it was in the gap. I didn’t get all of it,” Stanhoff said about his RBI double off the fence.

Courtesy runner Owen Turoski then scored on a Noah LeJeune RBI single to tie the game.

“They did a really good job to start the game like that,” Stanhoff said of the Tigers’ two-run first inning. “It was huge for us to punch back like that.”

The Black Hawks appeared set to blow the game open in the bottom of the second inning.

Eric Miehl walked and Nick Rillo singled to chase Tigers starter Nathan Weber after only one inning.

Tyler Ebner came on in relief for Moon and promptly hit the No. 9 batter, Aaron Hofbauer, to load the bases with nobody out with the top of the order coming up.

However, Ebner struck out Petras and got Stanhoff to fly to shallow left field before hitting LeJeune with a pitch to force in a run. He then struck out Mike Bruckner to limit the damage to one run.

“We need to come through in certain situations,” Zehnder said of only scoring one run in the second inning. “That’s going to come back and bite us eventually.”

Moon tied the game and chased BP starter Owen White in the third inning thanks again to the senior combo of Fachet, who walked and advanced on a wild pitch, and Kunkle, who drove him home with a second RBI single before Tyler Stewart came in for the final out of the inning for the Hawks.

While the top of the Black Hawks order could not break the game open in the second inning, they provided the game-winning run in the bottom of the fourth inning on three straight two-out singles by Petras, Stanhoff and LeJeune.

The Tigers had a good shot to tie the game again in the top of the fifth inning when Longwell led off with a double down the left field line. He was sacrificed to third on a great bunt by Fachet.

Nicholas Machusko lifted a fly ball to center field, Jack Bruckner made the catch coming in and let fly a strong throw to the catcher Stanhoff, who came up the third base line to catch the ball and swipe tag Longwell for an inning-ending 8-2 double play.

“It was a really strong throw, and all I ask for him is to give me a chance,” Stanhoff said. “He gave me a chance, and I got him out.”

Zehnder realizes he has something special behind the plate in his senior catcher in Stanhoff.

“What makes him so special is that not only is he able to move laterally to get in front of the ball, but it’s amazing how he can angle his body and the ball is always in front of him. For my money, he’s one of the best catchers in the WPIAL all the way around.”

Bethel Park is alone in first at 7-3 in the section and 11-4 overall despite a rash of injuries to key players.

The three pitchers used Wednesday by Bethel Park — White, Stewart and Matthew Hughes — had pitched a combined 17 innings this season yet held Moon to six hits in seven innings.

“Kudos to coach Jared King, who has done an awesome job with the pitching staff,” Zehnder said. “We’re so deep that there are guys that haven’t thrown at all varsity wise who are good enough to pitch for us. We’re very fortunate to have a lot of great arms.”

Moon is now 3-5 in the section and 3-9 overall. The Tigers are still in the middle of the playoff chase heading into their final two section series remaining, next week against Upper St. Clair and the week of May 5 against Trinity.

“We know every game is going to be close,” Stanhoff said about the section. “I think it’s very important to get us ready for playoff baseball. Every game there will be close and heated, and I think it’s a lot of fun.”

Tags: Bethel Park, Moon