Westmoreland County high school baseball notebook: Strong pitching just the beginning for undefeated Belle Vernon

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Tuesday, April 8, 2025 | 11:01 AM

As one of only six undefeated baseball teams in the WPIAL at the start of the week — and the only undefeated team in Westmoreland County — Belle Vernon once again is leaning on a treacherous pitching rotation to win games.

But it doesn’t stop there.

“Our starting pitching has always been the backbone of our program,” coach Tony Watson said. “But, lately, we’ve picked up the slack offensively and have had timely hitting with runners in scoring position.”

Belle Vernon (5-0), ranked No. 2 in Class 4A behind Indiana (6-0), had outscored its opposition 50-4.

Parker Lind was 3-0 and Lucas Judy 2-0 with both holding a 0.00 ERA . While the arms have been impressive, the team was batting .399 with 12 extra-base hits.

Perhaps a diamond-in-the-rough stat that looms large: The Leopards had 32 stolen bases.

“I think balance best describes this year’s team,” Watson said. “So far, we’ve been able to put a few complete games together. We just need to continue to build off that.”

Pitching coach Eric Lind has helped to nurture the staff, which includes Cole Matusik and Cam Matusik, a freshman.

Lind, who opened the season with a five-inning no-hitter, had 34 strikeouts in his first 15 1/3 innings against just five walks. Judy had 21 Ks and two walks in 13 innings.

Judy is a Pitt-Greensburg commit.

“We’ve been blessed to have some good arms come through our program. Their commitment to working on their craft and dedication in the weight room speaks volumes about the work ethic,” Watson said.

Offensively, Judy was hitting .750 (12 for 16) with 10 RBIs, Kole Doppelheuer had a .529 average and 10 runs and Cole Matusik (.467) had seven runs and four RBIs.

Watson said statistics are nice, but there might be more to this team than gaudy numbers.

“It’s the intangibles that have really made the difference,” he said. “Unselfish at-bats, communication and focus.”

Big games

Some recent strong performances from local players:

• Jeannette’s Amari Thomas went 4 for 4 with a triple, home run and four RBIs in a 14-2 win over Steel Valley.

• Judy pitched a complete game with nine strikeouts and went 3 for 3 with a homer in an 8-0 Belle Vernon win over Ringgold.

• Franklin Regional blanked Kiski Area 9-0 as NJ Ramchandran went 3 for 3 with a double and three runs.

Sweeps week

A few local teams are off to strong starts to section play.

Franklin Regional, Belle Vernon, Burrell and Greensburg Central Catholic all swept section series.

Franklin Regional won twice against Kiski Area for back-to-back sweeps in Section 1-5A, while Belle Vernon followed a sweep of Uniontown with another over Ringgold (2-4A), Burrell went 2-0 against Yough and Southmoreland (3-3A), and GCC won a pair against Jefferson-Morgan (1-A).

Latrobe and Greensburg Salem swept doubleheaders on Monday. Latrobe took two against Kiski Area (1-5A) while Greensburg Salem grabbed a pair from Valley (3-4A).

Schedule changes

Due to wet field conditions and cold weather early in the week, some shuffling has been done to the local schedule.

Kiski Area played a doubleheader at Latrobe on Monday to avoid Tuesday’s weather issues.

Also in 5A, Plum will visit Penn-Trafford at 4 p.m. Wednesday to finish the two-game series.

In 6A, the first game of the three-game series between Canon-McMillan and Norwin was moved to Friday at Canon-McMillan. The second game is scheduled for 4 p.m. Wednesday at Norwin, and Game 3 is set for 7 p.m. Thursday at EQT Park in Washington.

Game 2 of the Hempfield-Mt. Lebanon series will be Wednesday at Hempfield and Game 3 Thursday at Hempfield.

Pulling rank

Franklin Regional (7-1) made the biggest jump in the TribLive HSSN rankings this week, going from unranked to No. 5 in Class 5A.

Belle Vernon (5-0) went from No. 3 to 2 in 4A, while Greensburg Central Catholic (5-1) held steady at No. 4 in Class A.

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

Tags: Belle Vernon, Burrell, Franklin Regional, Greensburg C.C., Jeannette, Kiski Area, Latrobe