Baseball

Sixth-seeded BC moves into title game

By John Hartsock

jhartsock@altoonamirror.com

REVLOC -- Bishop Carroll Catholic entered the District 6 Class 1A baseball tournament this spring as a sixth seed that has proven to be a real sleeper.

The Huskies punched their first berth in the district championship game since 2011, and secured a spot in the upcoming PIAA state tournament in the process, by trimming seventh-seeded Portage, 4-2, in a semifinal-round playoff game played at the Cambria Township Recreation Park field on a radiant late Friday afternoon.

Friday's victory earns Bishop Carroll a spot in Tuesday night's 7 p.m. district championship game against top-seeded Bishop McCort Catholic at Altoona's Vets Field. McCort advanced with an 11-2 victory over Moshannon Valley in Friday's other semifinal.

Veteran Bishop Carroll coach Bill Schenk said that senior leadership has been important for this year's team.

"It's a great feeling,'' Schenk said of his team reaching the district championship game. "Our program hasn't been to a Class A final in 13 years, since 2011. This year's team has had great senior leadership, with six seniors -- Luke Repko, Mark Mento, Zander Sekerak, Max Oravec, Tobey Becquet and Grant Casses -- providing great senior leadership.

"Our seniors really keep our younger guys fired up,'' Schenk added.

Carroll (11-12), which will now be rolling into Wednesday's district championship game on the heels of three straight playoff victories, broke through with three runs on four hits in the bottom of the third inning to take a 3-0 lead.

Oravec led off with a single to center field, and moved on to third one out later on another single to center by Repko, who advanced to second base on the throw toward third base. Both Oravec and Repko scored on a single to center by sophomore Preston Gillin, who wound up knocking in three runs with two hits in the game.

"We moved Preston up to the number two hole in the batting order for the playoffs, and he seems like he's more comfortable there and has gotten a lot of clutch hits for us,'' Schenk said. "We like that number two hitter to spray the ball all over the field, and Preston does that for us.

"He was 2-for-3 today with three RBIs, and you can't ask for more than that,'' Schenk added.

Casses walked, advanced to second on a passed ball, moved to third on an infield single by Cullen Myers and scored Carroll's third run of the third inning on a subsequent throwing error.

Portage, which wrapped up a 10-13 season, scored a run in the top of the fifth inning against Carroll starting pitcher Mento, who tossed a strong game. Mento worked into the seventh inning, allowing the Mustangs just two hits and two runs while striking out four and walking only one.

Portage's first run against Mento came when Tony Lawrence drew a one-out walk, moved to second on a single to left field by Brady Cochran, and scored on designated hitter Connor Letzo's single to right field.

Carroll answered with another run in the bottom of the fifth inning against Portage right-hander Jake McCoy, who pitched a complete game in defeat, striking out seven batters, walking just one, and spacing seven hits.

Gillin's RBI single in the bottom of the fifth scored Repko, who had doubled to right-center field and stolen third base.

"I take my hat off to Jacob -- he had a good outing, and he threw the ball really well,'' veteran Portage coach Larry McCabe said of McCoy. "We just couldn't get timely hits and score runs today.''

Portage stranded five runners, including two in both the fifth and seventh innings. In the top of the seventh inning, Mento hit Justin Morgan with a pitch to lead off the frame, and Jacob Gregg was brought on in relief to pitch at that point.

Lucas Gather was inserted as a courtesy runner for Morgan, and Gather moved to second when Gregg hit Lawrence with a pitch. Cochran walked to load the bases with nobody out, but Gregg bore down from that point on to work out of the jam and preserve Carroll's victory.

Jonah Irvin popped up to third base for the first out of the inning, and Gather scored from third when Letzo hit a comebacker to the mound for the second out of the inning. With runners on second and third, Gregg got Connor Binaut to fly out to center to end the threat and the game, clinching a berth in the district title contest for Carroll.

"This is big for our team, and big for our school,'' Gillin said. "We have a great group of guys on this team who work hard together, and we've really been picking it up as a team in our last few games.''

PORTAGE (2): Binaut ss 400, Kargo 2b 300, Slanoc cf 300, McCoy p 300, Morgan 1b 211, Gather cr 010, Lawrence lf 210, Cochran 3b 201, Irvin c 300, Kick rf 000, Nesbella dh 100, Letzo dh 201. Totals - 25-2-3.

BISHOP CARROLL (4): Repko cf 322, Gillin 1b-3b 302, Casses ss 210, Myers rf 302, Mento p-1b 300, Sekerak 2b 200, Gregg 3b-p 300, Oravec lf 311, Becquet c 200. Totals - 24-4-7.

SCORE BY INNINGS

Portage 000 010 1--2-3-1

Bishop Carroll 003 010 x--4-7-0

E--Cochran. 2B--Repko, Myers. RBI--Letzo 2, Gillin 3. SB--Myers, Repko. HBP--Morgan (by Mento); Lawrence (by Gregg); Sekerak (by McCoy). LOB--Portage 5, Bishop Carroll 4.

PITCHING

Portage: McCoy (L) 6IP, 7H, 4R, 3ER, 1BB, 7SO.

Bishop Carroll: Mento (W) 6+IP, 2H, 2R, 2ER, 1BB, 4SO; Gregg (SV) 1 IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 1BB, 0S0.

Records: Portage (10-13); Bishop Carroll (11-12).

Time of game: 1:30.