WPIAL Baseball Coaches Association All-Star Game Recaps

By: HSSN Staff
Sunday, June 9, 2013 | 11:05 PM

The stars were out Sunday afternoon in Robinson Township. The WPIAL Baseball Coaches Association held their annual baseball all-star games with the top stars from each of the four classifications on display in a pair of contests. Here are recaps from both the Class AA vs. Class A game and the Class AAAA vs. Class AAA contest as heard here on the MSA Sports Network.

CLASS AAA  10 – CLASS AAAA  9:

In the WPIAL Baseball Coaches Associaton all-star game played at Burkett Field in Robinson Township the team comprised of AAA stars posted a come from behind 10-9 victory over the AAAA squad.

It was all AAAA early as the posted 4 runs off of Chartiers Valley's Jake Horew in the 2nd inning. Carmen Balego from from Pittsburgh Central Catholic had the big hit a 2 run double.

The AAA team would plate single runs in the 2nd and 3rd innings to cut the lead to 4-2. Knoch's Chase Voltz would hit an RBI double in the 2nd, while South Park's Jake Bywalwski would plate a run with an RBI single in the 3rd.

In the 3rd bottom of the 3rd inning after knocking out Horew with an additional run, Mike Adams of Elizabeth Forward would have the AAAA squad  plate 4 more runs. Again Balego with the big RBI single in addition to  Albert Gallatin's Tyler Dubovich RBI single made it 9-2.

From this point the AAAA team would only get 3 more hits the rest of the game as Mars David Bednar and Hampton's Joey Vita were magnificent on the mound for the AAA team the final 6 1/3 innings.

The AAA team cut the lead to 9-5 in the 6th. Voltz hit an RBI single, Horew and Jamie Deane of Ambridge also would plate runners with RBI singles  to close the gap to 4 runs.

In the 7th the AAA squad would get two more runs. Nick Yobbi of South Park led off with a double, Bywalski's RBI single followed by Mount Pleasants Joey Paul's 1 out single cut the lead to 2 as they made it 9-7.

In the top of the 9th the AAA boys would get three runs to go up 10-9.Dom Francia from Belle Vernon led off with a single, Montour's Dan Hoss singled followed by a hard hit ball by Hopewell's Tim Hughes that was ruled an error. Hopewell's Logan Johnston grounded out for an RBI and finally Steve Antolic from Ambridge hit an RBI single to give the AAA the lead.

The AAAA squad could only muster a two our single and AAA won in a big comeback.

The player of the game was a tough call as at 7 players had 2 hits. But Cameron Balego of Pittsburgh Central Catholic who was 2 for 3 with 2 singles, 2 runs scored and 3 RBI was chose the winner.

As for pitcher of the game again it was a hard choice but David Bednar of Mars who went 3 1/3 innings only giving up 1 hit and striking out 6 was the chosen one.

All the players plus the coach, player and pitcher of the year will be honored at a banquet hosted by MSA SPORTS own Lanny Frattare on Monday night June 10th.

CLASS AA  4 – CLASS A  4:

In the WPIAL Baseball Coaches Association All Star games held at Burkett Filed in Robinson Township in game one it turned out to be a tie as the single A squad and double AA team could not decide a winner. The games only go 9 innings so it ended in a 4-4 tie.

In the top of the second inning the AA squad would go up 1-0 as Riversides Dylan Jones RBI single drove in Freeports' Robbie Miller to give the AA team the early lead off Riverview starter Anthony Malky. They would plate another run in the top of the third off Malky as  Laurel's Brandon Ritchie hit a lead off triple and score on a sacrifice fly by Freedom's Sam Beckey.

Ritchie was the starter for the AA team and was unhittable going 3 innings and striking out 6, only walking 1 batter. The single A team would finally score off Brownsville's Tyler Spohn as they plated 2 runs in the 4th. After a hit batter and a walk OLSH's Preston Falascino hit an RBI single  and with two outs Ben Richko from Rochester walked with the bases loaded for an RBI.

It would remain this way until the bottom of the 8th as the single A squad would score twice. With two outs Serra's Chad Hazaga singled, then Ryan Peluso of North Catholic hit an RBI double followed by Western Beaver's Robert Dimaggio's single to give them a 4-2 lead.

In the top of the 9th inning for the AA squad Garrett Brooks from Greensburg Central Catholic led off with a single, Josh Miller from Beth Center doubled. With one out Jordan Allen of Washington tripled in both runs to tie it at 4-4. The single A squad would not score in the bottom of the 9th this the 4-4 final.

The Player of the game voted on by the media was Jordan Allen who was 1 for 2 with a triple and 2 RBI and a run scored. The pitcher of the game was Laurel's Brandon Ritchey who only walked a batter and struck out 6 in 3 innings of work.