Bethel Park sweeps Upper St. Clair on walk-off wild pitch

By: Don Rebel
Tuesday, April 4, 2023 | 8:30 PM

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If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

After having a baserunner thrown out at the plate trying to score from third base on a wild pitch in the first inning, Bethel Park scored the game winner in the bottom of the seventh inning on a bases-loaded wild pitch in a 3-2 victory over Upper St. Clair.

The win gave the two-time defending PIAA 5A champions a Section 1-5A series sweep of the neighboring Panthers.

The walk-off wild pitch came an inning after visiting USC tied the game with two runs in the sixth inning.

“I think of the 2021 WPIAL championship game when Franklin Regional was up 1-0 the whole game, we come back and tie it in the seventh, and then they come back and win it in the bottom,” Bethel Park coach Patrick Zehnder said. “That’s shows a lot of resiliency and maturity to be able to take a punch and give one right back after.”

The game was scoreless through three innings with the only threat coming in the bottom of the first inning when Bethel Park seniors John Chalus and Evan Holewinski singled and Ray Altmeyer walked to load the bases with one out.

Upper St. Clair senior starter Peter Janoski uncorked a wild pitch that hit off the padding behind home plate at Purkey Field and bounced back to Panthers senior catcher Ty Lagoni, who flipped to Janoski covering for the out on courtesy runner sophomore Jack Bruckner.

Bethel Park took the lead in the fourth inning when senior Jason Nuttridge singled and senior Coby Gollz delivered a two-run homer over the left-field fence.

“I’m just looking to get something into the outfield and get a rally going,” Goelz said. “This is a tough one for them. They played a great game, and Pete (Janoski) was good on the mound all day. But we’re confident in our guys. We know they’re good and they got it done (Tuesday).”

There were three of Goelz’s guys on the mound for Bethel Park on Tuesday. Senior Evan LeJeune started and pitched four scoreless innings, allowing two hits, one walk and two strikeouts.

“Unbelievable,” Zehnder said when asked about his starter’s performance. “We had a game plan going in and he did so well, we kind of steered off from it. It allowed him to go out for another inning, and he was not happy to be taken out. But that’s what we want. We want them to want the ball.”

Junior Jack Edner pitched 1⅔ innings of relief for Bethel Park, giving up two runs, one earned, on three hits.

Black Hawks closer senior Sebastian Schein pitched the final 1⅓ with a walk and a strikeout to pick up the win.

On Monday, Bethel Park, behind Holewinski, shut out host USC, 3-0.

Once the Black Hawks took the lead in the fourth, it looked like a repeat performance. However, the Panthers’ bats finally came to life in the sixth inning.

With USC runners at first and third and two outs, senior Tim Speer delivered an RBI single to center to score senior Owen Mandler and when the ball was misplayed in center field, senior Christian Wieczenski scored all the way from first base to tie the game.

The dramatic finish happened when sophomore Ray Petras had a one-out double down the left-field line, went to third on an infield single by Chalus and Holewinski was intentionally walked to load the bases.

Altmeyer never had a chance to play hero as the first pitch bounced past Lagoni and the Hawks started celebrating.

Bethel Park (2-0, 4-3) jumped out to the early lead in Section 2-5A while 2022 Class 6A runner-up Upper St. Clair (0-2, 3-3) must regroup, but has plenty of time to get back in the section title picture.

“I think they saved their ace for (Tuesday),” Zehnder said. “We need to be better offensively, but for us to scrap across enough runs, I don’t know that I would call it stealing one, but it was big for us.”

Tags: Bethel Park, Upper St. Clair