Norwin trailed 5-0 heading into the home half of the third inning, fell behind 7-5 after four innings and took an 8-5 deficit to the bottom of the seventh.
Then, all the momentum shifted to the baseball Knights as they posted their first win of the season.
The Knights erupted for four runs to earn a walk-off victory, 9-8, against visiting North Allegheny on March 24.
Brayden Wardzinski ripped the go-ahead single to cap the comeback on a windy Monday afternoon when the baseball was flying out of the park.
Nate Silberman homered for the Knights, while Mason Smith and JJ Mancuso each homered for the Tigers.
Ben Geissler had two hits, and he and Tristyn Tavares doubled.
Nicolas decommits
Norwin track and field standout Eliezer Nicolas had his future ironed out, or so he thought.
The senior had committed to continue his career at Saint Francis, but then a hammer fell last week when the university announced plans to drop from NCAA Division I to Division III.
Eliezer almost immediately announced his decommitment on X, reopening his recruiting.
“I was shocked, devastated and and realized that there is better elsewhere,” he said. “Obviously, my family is heartbroken, but God has my back.”
First win for volleyball
Norwin boys volleyball evened its record at 1-1 with a 3-1 nonsection victory over Baldwin (25-17, 19-25, 25-21, 25-23).
Dane Thompson had nine kills, John Olshanski and Christian Reiter added eight apiece and Nick Ames had five blocks.
Tennis prevails
The Norwin boys tennis earned a 4-1 victory over rival Penn-Trafford.
Max Snyder, Tanner Johnson, and Nico Sunseri all posted singles wins in straight sets for the Knights (4-1). Jaxson Momeyer and Nick Patter teamed up to win their first-doubles match.
New name
Wild Things Park, the site of the WPIAL baseball championships, has a new name.
The venue is now EQT Park.
Naming rights with the natural gas company are in place for three years.
This will be the park’s third name since it opened in 2002. It also was known as Falconi Field and Consol Energy Park. The complex had been Wild Things Park since 2017.
College scene
Updates on Norwin athletes playing at the college level:
Baseball
Eastern Michigan: Junior Ty Stecko belted a pair of home runs, giving him five for the season, drove in three runs and scored three times in a 14-11 loss to Miami (Ohio). Stecko transferred from Mount St. Mary’s, where he played two seasons as an infielder, starting 22 games last season. He hit .226 with 22 RBIs.
Mercyhurst: Junior Jayden Walker (Norwin) was named a Northeast Conference Prime Performer. The utility man was hitting .326 with a team-high 11 doubles, two home runs, 18 RBIs and 13 runs for the Lakers.
Pitt: Junior Jake Kendro had started 16 games and played in 18 for the Panthers. He had four doubles, 12 runs and eight RBIs. Junior pitcher Noah Czajkowski was 1-0 with a 6.00 ERA in five appearances (6 innings). Czajkowski spent the previous two seasons at St. Bonaventure.
Men’s lacrosse
Washington & Jefferson: Junior Braden Petrarco had two goals in a 12-5 win over Earlham.
Men’s track and field
Penn State Behrend: Freshman Carter Tobin finished fourth in the 200-meter dash at the SUNYAC championships. Tobin ran a program record time of 22.14 seconds in a preliminary race. Tobin qualified for the AARTFC meet in the 200, 60 and 800. At that meet, the 800 relay took fifth place with a school-record time of 1 minute, 30.50 seconds. He was 12th in the 200 and 16th in the 60.