Tigers junior pitches Hollidaysburg into semifinals
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By Michael Boytim
mboytim@altoonamirror.com
JOHNSTOWN -- Carson Kensinger has been doing a lot of heavy lifting for the Hollidaysburg baseball team during its historic postseason run, but the Golden Tigers had to use a different starting pitcher for the first time in weeks in Thursday's PIAA Class 5A quarterfinal game.
Paul Wedel was up to the task.
The junior right-handed pitcher overcame a high pitch count early and a shaky fourth inning to go the distance. He picked up the win when Cayden Gibbons hit a sacrifice fly in the top of the seventh inning to break a tie and give Hollidaysburg a 3-2 win over Penn-Trafford at Sargent's Stadium at the Point.
"Very impressed with Paul. He's been doing it all year," Hollidaysburg coach Jon Szynal said. "We had 100 percent full faith in him. The way the schedule worked out, Kensinger has been getting run out there once a week. But Paul has been pitching middle-of-the-week scrimmages, and we kept his pitch count up during the week to get ready for something like this. He answered the bell."
The win clinched Hollidaysburg's first-ever appearance in the PIAA semifinals, which will take place Monday at a site and time to be determined. The opponent, either District 12 champion Monsignor Bonner or WPIAL runner-up Bethel Park, will be decided today. Those teams play their quarterfinal game at Cumberland Valley High School at 4 p.m.
"A lot of these teams think we're not very good, and they're overlooking us," Kensinger said. "I saw an article about (Penn-Trafford) that they are looking forward to playing Bethel Park on Monday, and they were overlooking us. I knew whoever was going to be on the mound, they were going to get the job done and that we were going to ride behind them. That's the greatness of this team. We're going to go all the way. I can fully feel that with this team."
It was Kensinger who put Hollidaysburg in control early before Wedel even took the mound.
Jake Hileman led off the game with a double down the third base line, and after a fly out, Kensinger hit Penn-Trafford starting pitcher Brandon Roher's first pitch into orbit over the fence at one of the deepest parts of Sargent's Stadium at the Point to make it 2-0.
"I don't know why he threw it," Kensinger said. "First pitch of the AB, I was looking to kill it. We had a scouting report on him, I know some guys that faced him and we saw videos all over the place. We knew what we were getting coming in, and we did the job."
From there, Wedel pitched around some hard contact. Penn-Trafford's Chuck Fontana was stranded at second after a double in the bottom of the first inning, and the Warriors left two more runners on base in the second inning following Carmen Metcalfe's RBI double that made it 2-1.
Meanwhile, Roher was also working through trouble. Hollidaysburg stranded the bases loaded in the first inning and left two runners on in each of the next two innings before Penn-Trafford went to Zach Feldman in relief. Feldman held Hollidaysburg in check over the next three innings.
Penn-Trafford tied the game in the bottom of the fourth inning thanks to a two-out double by Ian Temple and an RBI single by Logan Matrisch. Wedel threw 27 pitches in the inning to bring his total in the game to 70 through four innings and received long mound visits from both his catcher, Gibbons and Szynal.
"I wanted to stay in there, and he just came out to give me a break," Wedel said. "It helped me a lot. It calmed me down, and I was glad I made it out of that inning and finished the game."
The visits worked. Wedel got Brayden Stone to line out to end the inning and then pitched the final three frames in just 27 total pitches to stay well below the PIAA limit of 105.
"I have been waiting behind Carson," Wedel said. "He's been awesome and finishing games. I have been maybe getting an out to finish it off here and there, but it felt nice to come out, show what I can do and move us on."
The game wasn't decided until the final inning.
Hileman, a left-handed hitter, led off with his third hit of the game, with all three landing on the third-base line. This one, a double, was disputed by Penn-Trafford shortstop Brody Hoffman and Warriors coach Lou Cortazzo, who tried to appeal to the home plate umpire. After a short meeting between the umpires, the double was confirmed.
"I just take what the pitcher gives me," Hileman said. "He was throwing me outside, so I just pushed it. I work on opposite-field hitting a lot. (The last one) I saw curl around third base, so I started running. I didn't hear foul, so I just kept going."
Ethan Karageanes laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Hileman to third, and Penn-Trafford opted to intentionally walk Kensinger to bring up Gibbons. For the second PIAA playoff game in a row, he put Hollidaysburg ahead late with a sacrifice fly on an 0-1 count.
"I was just looking to put the ball in play with a runner on third," Gibbons said. "You perform better when you have those nerves. You settle in to what you know best."
Hileman crossed the plate without a throw to make it 3-2.
"(Gibbons) loves big moments like that," Hileman said. "I trusted him. Everyone trusted him and knew he was going to get the job done. It felt great scoring that run. It was the best feeling I have felt at Hollidaysburg."
Stone singled with two outs in the bottom of the inning, but Wedel got Tyler Freas to fly out for the fourth time in the game one pitch later to set off a celebration.
"It hasn't really sunk in yet," Szynal said. "It probably will tonight. We're going to enjoy this one, but these kids deserve it. They have earned it, and it's a good group of kids that like to play and play together. They deserve this."
Penn-Trafford finished 21-4 and won a WPIAL baseball championship for the first time in school history.
"We hit sporadically. We didn't group anything together," Cortazzo said. "If we group it together, it could have been a totally different game, but we didn't do that. Being down, these kids are used to that. They are used to playing in tight games, but we left too many opportunities out there. All good things come to an end, and today was our day to come to an end."
While Hollidaysburg (16-5) doesn't know its opponent for Monday yet, with Kensinger lined up to pitch, the Golden Tigers are confident they can make it to Friday's Class 5A state championship game at Penn State University's Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.
"Carson is a great pitcher," Hileman said. "When he's on the mound, we feel confident that we can beat any team. We have to just keep hitting the ball and see what happens."
Kensinger, who is committed to Frostburg State, is looking forward to the opportunity.
"Every inning pitched is a gift," Kensinger said. "We're running out of time in our high school careers, but that doesn't mean we can't still do something special."
HOLLIDAYSBURG (3): Hileman cf 423, Karageanes 1b 200, Wedel p 000, Kensinger dh 211, Gibbons c 200, Bell cr 000, Banks 3b 301, Steiner ss 301, Hockey 2b 201, Michaels rf 300, Szynal lf 300. Totals -- 24-3-7.
PENN-TRAFFORD (2): Stone 2b 401, Freas 2b 400, Fontana 1b 301, Sabol cf 300, Roher p 000, Feldman p 000, Septak dh 300, Hoffman ss 300, Temple c 302, Newsom cr 020, Metcalfe lf 201, Matrisch rf 201. Totals -- 27-2-6.
SCORE BY INNINGS
Hollidaysburg 200 000 1--3 7 0
Penn-Trafford 010 100 0--2 6 2
E--Hoffman, Temple. 2B--Hileman 2, Fontana, Metcalfe, Temple. HR--Kensinger. RBI--Kensinger 2, Gibbons, Metcalfe, Matrisch. SB--Kensinger, Metcalfe, Temple. HBP--Banks (by Roher). IBB--Kensinger (by Feldman). DP--Penn-Trafford 3. SAC--Karageanes. SF--Gibbons. LOB--Hollidaysburg 10, Penn-Trafford 6.
PITCHING
Hollidaysburg: Wedel (W)–7IP, 6H, 2BB, 4K, 2R, 2ER, 97 pitches.
Penn-Trafford: Roher--3IP, 4H, 4BB, 1HBP, 0K, 2R, 2ER, 51 pitches; Feldman (L)–4IP, 3H, 1BB, 3K, 1R, 1ER, 39 pitches.
Umpires: Plate--Doug Hengst. Bases--Ray Rowley, Justin Keel, Kyle Cornell.
Records: Hollidaysburg (16-5); Penn-Trafford (21-4).