Monroeville-area baseball teams on the hunt for postseason success

By: Michael Love
Sunday, July 13, 2025 | 11:01 AM

The Monroeville Red Pandas are set to begin the Pittsburgh NABA playoffs, and Gateway graduate and team manager Donovan Baxter said things are looking good for a postseason run after a regular season that saw a turnaround from a rough start.

The Red Pandas began the season 0-5 and were looking to get their footing.

A 6-3 triumph June 10 over the Hebrew Oilers, the No. 1 seed when the AAA division double-elimination playoff tournament begins, got Monroeville in the win column.

It then scored victories in nine of 12 games and was 10-8 overall heading into the final three games of the regular season.

Matchups with Ohio Valley, the Bauerstown Grizzlies and Plum’s 4:12 Warriors, all at Gateway High School, were to be contested past the deadline for this week’s edition.

From there, the seeding was to be completed and the matchups set for the seven-team playoffs, which are to conclude with the best-of-three championship series starting as early as July 28.

Baxter said he knew his team would rebound from the tough start.

“I think we just hit our groove,” he said. “We finally got some good reps in as a team. Our bats came alive. That was a big thing for us. We were struggling to score runs at first. Everyone started seeing pitches well. It wasn’t just one or two people. We were starting to string hits together. Everyone has contributed to this.”

Monroeville hoped the final three games of the regular season would be a boost into the playoffs.

The playoff seeding was determined by points earned in the regular season. The Red Pandas had a chance to move up from their fifth-place spot going into those games.

Baxter’s confidence in the offense showed itself July 6 in a game at Bauerstown.

Monroeville scored a season-high 14 runs in a 14-6 victory. The Red Pandas scored twice in the first inning and were held off the board in the second before tallying runs in every inning after that with one in the third, four in the fourth, one in the fifth, four in the sixth and two more in the seventh.

Monroeville, consisting of mainly Gateway graduates with other former WPIAL standouts, pounded out 21 hits as everyone in the lineup contributed.

Third baseman Jordan Stancovich and shortstop Drew Doherty each collected a team-best four hits. Jaired Lehman was the starting pitcher and also delivered three hits in four at-bats. He and Sonny Comunale both hit home runs.

Luke Jackson drove in a team-best three runs, while Stancovich, Caleb Lehman, Baxter and Troy Caggiano each tallied two RBIs.

Jaired Lehman struck out seven and walked five while surrendering five hits and three Bauerstown earned runs over four innings.

Comunale came on and worked the final three innings and gave up two hits and a walk while fanning two.

Gators make regionals

The Monroeville Post 820 Gators were all set to compete July 16 against Smithfield-Fairchance for third place in the Westmoreland County Youth Legion playoffs and a spot at regionals.

But Smithfield-Fairchance forfeited the game, and the Gators automatically advanced to the next round and a shot at qualifying for states.

“The guys were disappointed they didn’t get a chance to play,” Monroeville coach Mark Rawls said. “They were excited about putting their best product on the field. That is a lot of what I talk about with them during practices and games. We want to earn every victory. We want to earn every hit, run and stolen base and also every out when we are on defense. The last time we played (Smithfield-Fairchance), it was a lopsided victory at 14-3, so we were pretty confident we would have been successful again.”

Monroeville (7-7) rolled past Connellsville, 7-1, in the first round of the playoffs June 30. It was the Gators’ fourth win in a row. They collected just four hits but took advantage of seven walks.

Michael Roberts delivered two of the four hits and also drove in a run.

That streak of wins for Monroeville was halted by 14th Ward, which scored a 5-1 semifinal win over Monroeville on July 2. That sent the Gators to the consolation round.

“The loss to 14th Ward showed that we still had some things to work on, and that’s OK,” Rawls said. “There were some small items that we needed to clean up. We had opportunities to win that game. We had bases loaded in the fifth and sixth innings with one out both times, and the ball just didn’t bounce our way.

“We knew that it was going to take being sharp with the small things in order to move on to the state tournament.”

Monroeville, Belle Vernon and 14th Ward joined host Uniontown for the Region 6 playoffs, which were set to start past the deadline for this week’s edition. The top two teams advance to the state tournament in Berwick slated to begin July 19.

Monroeville didn’t face Belle Vernon at any point in the league regular season. The Gators split with Uniontown, losing 9-2 in the season opener May 19 before winning 10-2 on June 2.

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: Gateway