Riverside outlasts South Park in epic 12-inning pitchers’ duel in Class 3A semifinals
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Friday, May 23, 2025 | 11:25 PM
Riverside’s Jackson Barber runs to first base during the Panthers’ WPIAL Class 3A semifinal against South Park on Friday, May 23, 2025, at Plum.
Riverside pitcher Zach Hare delivers against South Park during their WPIAL Class 3A semifinal on Friday, May 23, 2025, at Plum.
Riverside’s Dylan Meyer catches a pop-up in shallow center field during the Panthers’ WPIAL Class 3A semifinal against South Park on Friday, May 23, 2025, at Plum.
Riverside’s Jackson Barber makes a running catch in left field during the Panthers’ WPIAL Class 3A semifinal against South Park on Friday, May 23, 2025, at Plum.
Riverside pitcher Zach Hare celebrates after getting out of a jam against South Park during their WPIAL Class 3A semifinal on Friday, May 23, 2025, at Plum.
South Park pitcher Cooper Hochendoner celebrates after getting a strikeout against Riverside during their WPIAL Class 3A semifinal on Friday, May 23, 2025, at Plum.
South Park pitcher Cooper Hochendoner delivers against Riverside during their WPIAL Class 3A semifinal on Friday, May 23, 2025, at Plum.
Riverside pitcher Zach Hare (27) celebrates with teammates after getting out of a jam against South Park during their WPIAL Class 3A semifinal on Friday, May 23, 2025, at Plum.
Riverside pitcher Hunter Garvin delivers against South Park during their WPIAL Class 3A semifinal on Friday, May 23, 2025, at Plum.
Riverside’s Jackson Barber celebrates at second base during the Panthers’ WPIAL Class 3A semifinal against South Park on Friday, May 23, 2025, at Plum.
There were moments in Friday’s semifinal when Riverside coach Dan Oliastro and his players wondered if either team would ever score. The scoreboard ran out of innings, and they were all full of zeroes.
The stadium lights were even turned on.
But in the 12th inning, Riverside’s Jackson Barber finally broke the scoreless tie with a two-out, bases-loaded hit that earned the top-seeded Panthers a 1-0 walk-off win over No. 5 South Park in a WPIAL Class 3A semifinal at Plum that lasted nearly three hours.
Barber’s teammates mobbed him after the junior dropped a line drive into right-center field.
“He socked that one to the perfect spot,” Oliastro said. “It didn’t look like it was ever going to come.”
That’s because two of the WPIAL’s best arms, Riverside senior Zach Hare and South Park junior Cooper Hochendoner, pitched a couple of spectacular no-decisions. Hare pitched seven no-hit innings with 10 strikeouts while Hochendoner struck out 14 batters in 9⅓ scoreless innings.
Each left the mound with zeroes still on the scoreboard.
Riverside’s Hunter Garvin earned the win in relief by throwing five scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts, one walk and two hits. The lefty stranded two runners in the ninth inning with consecutive strikeouts.
“I’m a pitching guy, so you love to see (the pitchers’ duel),” South Park coach Corey Fischer said. “But I just said to my guys, ‘This is why baseball is a brutal sport and kind of stinks sometimes.’ It’s a frustrating game.”
The victory takes Riverside (16-2) to the finals for the third year in a row. The Panthers face a section foe, No. 7 Quaker Valley (15-6), in the finals Tuesday or Wednesday at EQT Park in Washington.
Riverside was the WPIAL runner-up last season after winning the championship in 2023. Another WPIAL title would make Oliastro the first coach to win seven.
“It would mean a lot if we could get another WPIAL right now,” Barber said.
South Park (14-6) faces No. 11 Mohawk (12-9) in a third-place game at a site and time to be announced. Both teams already are qualified for the state playoffs.
Riverside’s winning rally started with Garvin and Hare drawing consecutive walks against South Park reliever Bryce Brerzansky. Drake Fox loaded the bases with a slow-rolling infield single.
Still, Brerzansky almost escaped the no-out jam.
The South Park senior got a popup and a strikeout before Barber, who bats eighth, drove a pitch to the outfield grass. Brerzansky gave up one run on two hits, three walks and struck out two in 2⅓ innings.
“I came up to the plate expecting to hit the ball and get my team a victory,” said Barber, who’d also singled in the eighth inning. “I was just looking for a base hit. Nothing crazy.”
An inning before Barber got his game-winning hit, the junior outfielder made a diving catch in center to rob South Park of a likely extra-base hit in the 11th.
“If he dives a half-second later, it’s probably an inside-the-park home run,” Fischer said. “But we didn’t hit well enough to win the game today. They got the clutch hit when they needed a clutch hit. That’s what it takes when you’re in a pitchers’ duel.”
Hare threw 98 pitches just three days after throwing 70 in a five-inning no-hitter Tuesday. The Slippery Rock recruit walked two batters, both in the first inning.
Riverside’s staff is short-handed with senior Christian Lucarelli, a Duke recruit, temporarily shut down from pitching. But both Hare and Garvin are eligible to pitch in the finals.
Hochendoner scattered five hits and walked none in his 107-pitch outing.
The marathon brought back memories from last year’s WPIAL finals when Riverside lost to Avonworth, 4-3, in 14 innings. Oliastro also recalled an extra-innings loss to Neshannock in 2022 that stung. Finally being on the winning side of one felt much better for the Panthers.
“Absolutely,” Oliastro said.
Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.
Tags: Riverside, South Park
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