As a winning streak began to stretch out like salt water taffy from a preseason trip to Myrtle Beach, Mt. Pleasant baseball coach Chris Firmstone became less surprised.
Three straight section sweeps and a nonsection win took the streak to seven — but it was not a lucky seven.
"We have a great group of senior leaders that have been through some struggles as underclassmen, and we have learned from the challenges they had,” Firmstone said. "We talked all preseason that we can have a very nice season. The season is coming together very nicely.”
By "very,” the coach must be referring to his team turning a basic playoff push into a full-blown section title run.
The Vikings (13-4, 11-1) grabbed the attention of everyone in Section 4-3A when they swept then-undefeated and No. 3 Waynesburg, 4-1 and 6-1, to take over first place.
The section champs then swept Southmoreland to close out section play and make it nine in a row going into the playoffs.
And how’s this for a good omen? Mt. Pleasant’s last section title came in 2017 when the team made the WPIAL championship game.
"Waynesburg has a very nice team,” Firmstone said. "Being able to beat them gives us more confidence coming to the end of the season.”
Connor Drzal did some of the heavy lifting in the second win over Waynesburg as he picked up the win on the mound while striking out seven, helping himself at the plate with a double and three RBIs.
Game 1 saw Brady Poole, Luke Nicotera and Brady Painter drive in runs as part of an opportunistic lineup.
Mt. Pleasant is taking a page from the Latrobe book of baseball, going with the full-bodied approach to mojo.
"It’s a total team effort,” Firmstone said. "Everyone is picking each other up.
"Pitching, defense and timely hitting all coming together.”
Drzal seconded Firmstone’s assessment about the team’s closeness.
"We are always doing things off the field together, which really helps on the field,” he said. "This year, our pitching is completely different. We have more guys that we can rely on to keep us in games. We just have a really good group of kids and we want to keep winning.
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"We are always putting in work whether it’s on our own time or the weekends.”
A common factor in games, Drzal said, is the team’s enthusiasm. He said there is a distinctive change in that aspect, a louder collective heartbeat on the field.
"Our energy is always up compared to other years,” Drzal said. "Everyone is always cheering in the dugout and everyone plays a part, which helps everyone stay in the games.”
Firmstone said Mt. Pleasant pays closer attention to team stats than individual numbers.
"We keep everything team related,” he said. "Someone who has a standout day today may not tomorrow. Another teammate picks them up.”
And then another the next day. Sounds like a streak.
Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.
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