Westmoreland County baseball notebook: Franklin Regional gets off to hot start in Florida

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Tuesday, March 18, 2025 | 11:01 AM

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One Westmoreland County baseball team was in midseason form for spring training.

Franklin Regional opened the season with a three-game sweep at the Jackie Robinson Sports Complex in Vero Beach, Fla.

The Panthers (3-0) defeated Wissahickon, 7-2, in the first game as Jonah Willochell pitched five strong innings. Liam Bernadowski went 3 for 4 with a double, and Brady Yarabinetz and Willochell each had two hits and combined for five RBIs. Yarabinetz had three.

The second game, a 10-9 victory over Charlotte Country Day, was a marathon. It took four and a half hours to complete and went 11 innings.

Anthony Mitchell powered the Panthers in the third game, 10-7 victory over D’Evelyn (Colo.). Mitchell went 4 for 4 with three doubles and three runs scored, Yarabinetz drove in a pair and Christian Dunn scored twice.

The Panthers had 11 stolen bases, three each from Luke Williams and NJ Ramchandran.

Franklin Regional is scheduled to play Thursday at No. 5 Fox Chapel.

Hitting the road

Latrobe usually begins the season with a trek west to Ohio for a couple of games against Upper Arlington, where Latrobe alum Nate Campbell is an assistant coach.

But because the start of the WPIAL season does not align with the start of baseball in Ohio, the Wildcats changed their plans this season. They opened with two games at Scranton Prep, a four-plus-hour bus ride to the northeast corner of the state. Latrobe split a doubleheader Saturday.

Warriors win opener

Penn-Trafford opened its WPIAL 5A title defense with a 9-3 win over Norwin on opening day.

Logan Matrisch had two hits, a home run and five RBIs, Nico Casioto doubled and drove in two runs and Colton Tyburski doubled for the Warriors.

Tenured coaches

A number of local coaches have been leading their teams for a decade or more, showing stability in county baseball.

Latrobe’s Matt Basciano and Marcus Clarkson of Jeannette are the longest-tenured coaches as they enter their 22nd seasons.

Tim Buzzard of Hempfield, meantime, has been in charge for 18 years, Bobby Saddler of Franklin Regional 15 years and Chris Firmstone of Mt. Pleasant 10.

Two local programs have new coaches this spring: Drew Ledbetter at Southmoreland and Frank Repasky at Monessen.

Section play

The season is barely a week old, and teams are set to begin WPIAL section play.

There will be three two-game series starting Monday. Teams will play a home-and-home series on back-to-back days, barring weather adjustments.

Section 1-5A has Franklin Regional at Penn Hills, Latrobe at Penn-Trafford and Armstrong at Plum on Monday.

Section 3-3A also begins Monday with Burrell at Yough, Deer Lakes at Southmoreland and Freeport at Mt. Pleasant. The home sites switch Tuesday.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Franklin Regional, Hempfield, Jeannette, Latrobe, Monessen, Mt. Pleasant, Southmoreland