Fear the beard: Sean Hudac pitches OLSH past Riverview in Class 2A baseball semis

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Friday, May 23, 2025 | 10:53 PM


With his free-flowing hair and bushy beard on display, Sean Hudac’s carefree approach to the WPIAL Class 2A semifinals Friday at Peterswood Park in Peters captured the spirit of No. 2 seed Our Lady of the Sacred Heart’s baseball season.

The Chargers, behind the senior right-hander’s first complete game, methodically mowed down No. 6 Riverview, 3-1, to advance to just their second WPIAL championship game.

“As a program, we’ve been knocking on the door a long time,” OLSH coach Phil McCarren said, “and today, we came through.”

OLSH (15-7) will play No. 8 Freedom for the Class 2A title Tuesday or Wednesday at EQT Park in North Franklin. Both of those teams qualified for the PIAA playoffs after Friday’s games.

In the other semifinal, Freedom outlasted No. 12 Laurel, 8-7.

Riverview (14-7) and Laurel remained alive for a state playoff berth and will play in a WPIAL third-place consolation game at a site and time to be determined.

“I just told the guys, ‘Fortunately, we have one more game left, and you can make a run to the states,’ ” Riverview coach Bill Gras said.

It marked OLSH’s third victory against Riverview this season. The Chargers beat the Raiders twice during the regular season by scores of 4-0 and 4-3.

“If you’re a baseball fan, those were the games to watch,” Gras said. “Today was a game to watch as a fan.”

Hudac, who threw 60 of his 95 pitches for strikes, overcame an early 1-0 deficit, shutting out Riverview over the final five innings. He yielded seven hits, walked one batter and struck out three.

The Riverview run was unearned.

“My hat’s off to Sean Hudac,” McCarren said “I was hoping to get a good game out of him. He’s been a good pitcher for us all year, but he really stepped up today. He was on. He was big.”

And not just on the mound.

Hudac’s RBI double during a two-run third inning tied the score at 1-1, and the Chargers, one batter later, went ahead for good on freshman Dean Douglass’ wind-blown, infield, pop single, scoring courtesy runner Wyatt Walsh.

Like Hudac, Douglass was good everywhere.

He threw out two Riverside runners, first ending a Raiders threat in the third by nailing Eli DeVita at home to complete a double play following Miles Duncan’s flyout.

In the fifth, DeVita singled to right before Douglass fired a strike to third to erase Johnny Bertucci, who was attempting to advance from first.

“The defense was great,” Hudac said. “Dean played really great in right field. The defense picked up towards the end of the season. They’ve been nearly flawless the whole year.”

When asked about his defensive gems, Douglass shrugged and said, “They looked pretty good to me, at least.”

OLSH turned a second double play in the seventh to crush Riverview’s hopes of a comeback.

After Rex Roberts led off with a single, Ashton Saunders hit a sharp bouncer to Chargers shortstop Gino Williams, who quickly flipped the ball to second before Colby Lane’s throw to first beat Saunders.

“It seems like every time we tried something, they were able to stop it,” Gras said.

Both teams finished with seven hits. Hard-luck loser Bertucci struck out four, walked three and yielded just two earned runs over six innings.

He and DeVita produced three hits apiece for the Raiders, who were aided by an error when they scored their only run in the second on Bertucci’s RBI single.

“Both teams had good pitching, both teams played good defense and had some good hitting,” McCarren said. “Some of our bunting made the difference, and my right-fielder’s play was tremendous (referring to Douglass).”

OLSH, whose only other WPIAL championship appearance resulted in a 3-2 loss to Western Beaver in the 2013 Class A final, added a run in the fourth.

Chad Minton reached on a one-out bunt, went to second on a throwing error, stole third and scored on Vann Kavals’ RBI single to right.

“It was a great game. It’s really what we expected,” McCarren said. “Riverview is a great team. I knew we were in for another close game.”

Hudac’s smile accentuated his hairy look after what amounted to a tense and satisfying victory, the fourth complete game of his high school career.

“This is probably my best,” he said. “I’m pretty excited. I’m ecstatic. It feels great, but we’ve got more to do.”

And, by chance, was Hudac hoping his untamed appearance might help his play on the field?

“I didn’t like getting haircuts when I was a kid, so I just never cut it,” he said. “And then, the beard, I didn’t feel like shaving. It’s kind of fun to grow a beard. So I just let it grow. It probably fits me, and I’ll probably never get rid of it.”

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