Top WPIAL Baseball Player Makes College Choice

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, July 16, 2013 | 12:35 PM

One of the most dominant pitchers to come out of the WPIAL in recent years has made his college choice. Soon to be senior Brendan McKay, a left handed pitcher from Blackhawk High School who has been frustrating opponents since his freshman year three years ago, has decided to play his college baseball at the University of Louisville.

McKay, who hopes to be drafted high in the 2014 Major League Baseball first-year player draft next June, selected Louisville over scholarship offers from West Virginia, Tennessee, Wake Forest, Virginia, Virginia Teach and Kent State among others. He has twice been named to the MSA Sports Diamond Studs baseball all-star team.

This past season as a junior, McKay was the Gatorade Pennsylvania Player of the Year. He was 7-0 as a pitcher and gave up only one earned run (three overall) in 60 innings. His ERA was 0.09 and struck out 117 in 60 innings. McKay has been Blackhawk’s ace for three years and has a 22-1 record. McKay also batted better than .400. He has batted better than .400 every year in his high school career.

As a sophomore, McKay had a scoreless streak of 35 consecutive innings that started near the end of the season and lasted until the sixth inning of the 2011 PIAA Quarterfinals. McKay finished with a 9-1 record for the WPIAL AAA champions and had an ERA of 0.52. He struck out 96 in 81 innings. He led the Cougars to the WPIAL championship two years ago with a 1-0 win over Belle Vernon in the finals.

Louisville qualified for the College Baseball World Series this past spring.

Tags: Blackhawk