WPIAL Baseball All-Star Game Recaps

By: HSSN Staff
Sunday, June 8, 2014 | 10:51 PM

There was a new venue this year of rthe annual WPIAL Baseball Coaches Association All-Star games as they took the top seniors from District 7 to the turf of Kelly Automotive Field, formerly Pullman Park in Butler as the Class AA and Class AAA stars picked up victories. Here is a recap from both contests Sunday heard here on MSA Sports.

Class AA All-Stars 8 – Class A All Stars 1

Six Class AA pitchers combined to allow only 3 hits and one unearned run as the Class AA All-Stars bested the Class A All-Stars 8-1 at Kelly Automotive Park in Butler, PA. The Class AA Player-of the-Year Ernie Burkes from Neshannock drove home the game’s first run in the top of the second inning when his two out single scored Seton-LaSalle’s David Boehme who led off the inning with a double to left- off of California’s Josh Luko, who was named the Single A Pitcher-of-the-Year. The AA All-Stars would make it 2-0 in the top of the fourth inning. After one out, Luko walked Chartiers-Houston’s Tyler Day. Day took second on a wild pitch and score on a two out double by Seton-LaSalle’s Matt Wilke. The AA All-Stars blew this game open by sending ten batters to the plate in the top of the eighth inning, doing most of the damage against Springdale’s Alex Demonte. Matt Olesnevich from Deer Lakes was hit by a pitch to start the inning. Olesnevich then stole second. Brent McCormick from Shenango then walked and R.J. Stewart from Laurel loaded the bases with an infield single. After a pop out, Demonte hit Freeport’s Matt Schwartz with a pitch to make it 3-0. Matt Hoesch from Steel Valley singled to score McCormick and it was 4-0. Stewart scored on a wild pitch to make it 5-0. After Chuckie Scales from Shady Side Academy drew a walk to reload the bases, Ross Maietta from Riverside also walked to score Schwartz to make the score 6-0. Justice Rawlins from Monessen relived Demonte but a throwing error on catcher Brady Menich from Western Beaver allowed Hoesch and Scales to come home and the AA All-Stars led 8-0. The Class A All-Stars scored their only run in the bottom of the eighth plating an unearned run against Ryan Novotney from Brownsville. With one out, Dom Conte from Riverview singled to right field and took second when Novotney’s pick-off attempt went awry for an error. Avella’s Tim Fraysier then singled home Conte to make the score 8-1.   Burkes and Boehme would combine for a scoreless ninth and the AA All-Stars had the seven run victory.

Nolan Lamont from South Side started and pitched two scoreless inning allowing one walk and striking out two batters to get the win. Jason Pettner from Riverside followed, allowing a hit and a pair of walks in his two innings. Jordan Ransom from Beaver Falls followed with two perfect innings while striking out two. Novotney fanned three batters in his two innings of work whole allowing just the unearned run and Boehme added a strikeout in his two-thirds of an inning. Luko was the starter and losing pitcher for the Class A All Stars, allowing an earned run in three innings. For his work on the mound, Jordan Ransom, who is headed to Mercyhurst College was named the Pitcher-of-the –Game and Seton-LaSalle’s David Boehme, who is also headed north for college to Penn-State Behrend, was named the Player-of-the –Game scoring the game’s first run after leading of the second inning with a double to the wall in left-center field.

Class AA All-Stars:           0 – 1 – 0 – 1 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 6 – 0 =   8 – 8 – 1
Class A All-Stars:              0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 1 – 0 =   1 – 3 – 4
 

Class AAA All-Stars 4 – Class AAAA All Stars 3

The Class AAA All-Stars used a three run seventh inning to regain the lead on their way to a 4-3 victory against Quad A’s best at Kelly Automotive Park in Butler, PA. The AAA All-Stars scored in the top of the first inning against Hempfield’s Tyler Tubbs. Second baseman Jake Benack from Thomas Jefferson led off the game with a double went to third on a throwing error by shortstop J.J. Matijevic and scored on a line drive single from Hampton’s Ben Vey for the early 1-0 lead. That would be all for the Class AAA All-Stars for a while as Tubbs, Tyler Smith from Penn-Trafford and Tyler Schmidt from Peters Township would combine for 6 strong innings. The AAAA All-Stars took the lead in the bottom of the sixth inning scoring a pair of runs against Josh Lapiana from Chartiers Valley. With one out, Kevin Gannon from Mars and Zack Staschick from Uniontown hit back-to-back singles. A groundout by Cody Overly from moved the runners to second and third with two outs. Drew DeBerry from Laurel Highlands pinch ran for Staschick. Dylan Pietrantoni from Belle Vernon, who started the game at pitcher for the AAA All-Stars and allowed only one hit in three innings, singled to right field to score Gannon and DeBerry and the AAA squad had regained  the lead 3-2. North Allegheny’s Tyler Saundry continued to struggle in the seventh, walking Indiana’s Ryan Kreps and Ambridge’s Grant Smith to load the bases. Saundry’s control problems continued, as he plunked Tyler Godwin from South Fayette with a pitch to score Pietrantoni to make the score 4-2. The Quad-A All-Stars would get a run back in the bottom of the eighth inning off of Vey. After a strikeout, Kiski Area’s Ryan Sciullo singled  to shallow leftfield on a pop fly that fell in and after being trapped between first and second, Sciullo took second when the AAA All-Stars were unable to make a clean thrown to get an out. After a walk, Sciullo took third on a fly out and scored on Vey’s wild pitch to bring the AAAA Stars to within a run. But Vey got Peters Township’s Phil Pisarcik to fly out with a runner on second to end the threat and Knoch’s Zach Junk pitched a perfect 9^th inning to notch the save.

Tubbs, Smith, Schmidt, Alex Pantuso from Baldwin and Mitch Machi from North Allegheny combined to throw 8 solid innings for the Quad-A All Stars, allowing just one run and striking out 13 batters. Saundry allowed 3 hits, two walk and a hit batter to go along with three earned runs to take the loss for the AAAA Stars. Lapiana picked up the win for the Class AAA All-Stars. Matijevic from Norwin was named the Class AAAA Player-of-the-Year and Brian Penz from Montour received the same honor for Class AAA. Pietrantoni, who is headed to St. Vincent’s College in Latrobe, was named the Player-of-the-Game for his big two out – two RBI single in the top of the seventh inning for the Class AAA All-Stars. Tyler Smith, who will play collegiately at Canisius, earned Pitcher-of-the-Game honors by fanning four of the six AAA batters he faced in the third and fourth innings.

Class AAA All-Stars:        1 – 0 –  0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 3 – 0 – 0 =   4 – 6 – 3
Class AAAA All-Stars:     0 – 0 –  0 – 0 – 0 – 2 – 0 – 1 – 0 =   3 – 4 – 2