It seems like just yesterday, Lower Burrell Post 868 began its District 31 league schedule with a wild 12-10 triumph at Young Township Legion.
That May 24 contest began a compacted dash through 18 games of a regular season that concluded Saturday in a 4-3 loss at league contender Bushy Run.
Now, a new dash begins Tuesday as Lower Burrell hopes to make some noise and go on a playoff run that could finish in the state playoffs later this month.
“The guys are super excited and ready for the next chapter,” Bulldogs manager Steve Scheftic said. “The season is relatively short in terms of weeks, but it is so compact that the six weeks is a bit of a grind. There is a freshness to stepping into the playoffs with every day being an opportunity to move on or go one step further.”
Lower Burrell (9-8-1) completed the mad rush to the regular season finish line with 55 points over the 18 games. The Bulldogs landed in fourth place, one point ahead of Homer City (9-9-0). As a result, they earned the home-field advantage for the best-of-three series that begins at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at ABC Field.
Game 2 on Wednesday will be at First Commonwealth Bank Field in Homer City.
If necessary, Thursday’s deciding Game 3 will be back at ABC Field.
Homer City took two of the three games during the regular season. Lower Burrell won the first game 10-6 on June 11 as the Bulldogs recorded 10 hits, led by a home run and three RBIs from third baseman Adam Scheftic and a double and two hits from Dominick Hand and Brennan Corridoni.
Homer City then returned the favor with a 5-0 win June 16 and a 6-1 triumph one week later.
“Any time you see a team that many times, you become very familiar with them,” Scheftic said.
“Baseball can be a game of bounces and momentum swings, and there were spurts where we were getting the timely hits and playing real clean. We also went through a stretch where we weren’t. That last couple times we caught those guys was in the midst of that (down stretch). Homer Center is a really good team. The whole league is full of them, and I don’t care what matchup you have. It is a challenge.
“I don’t know if we were at our best the last two times Homer Center saw us, so I hope we are at our best over these next couple of days.”
Lower Burrell won five in a row before the loss to Bushy Run. That included its 7-0 shutout of regular-season champion Latrobe on June 30.
Jonathan Walker, who is scheduled to pitch Game 1 on Tuesday, was dealing from a good place against the Jethawks. He scattered four hits, struck out three and walked none over six innings.
The Bulldogs offense produced eight hits. Scheftic came up big with a home run and three RBIs.
Saturday’s close result against Bushy Run was the Bulldogs’ fifth game in six days.
Bushy Run led 3-0 early and 4-2 in the fourth. Lower Burrell scored in the fifth but was unable to rally all the way back.
“We played really well in that game,” Steve Scheftic said.
“There were a couple of close calls. You have to be able to play through that. We had runners in scoring position all day but just couldn’t get that timely hit. But just playing that well the whole week and even in that last game makes you feel good about the guys that they are going to have the opportunity to win a lot of baseball games.”