Good high school baseball teams win games when they are playing their best ball.
Great scholastic baseball programs can win games sometimes even when they are kicking the ball, throwing it away and running into outs.
Bethel Park made a month full of mistakes in falling behind Upper St. Clair on Thursday, but they rallied with four runs in the sixth inning and one more in the seventh to pull out a come-from-behind thriller, 7-6.
The victory has the Black Hawks all alone in first place in Section 2-5A.
“Definitely good any time you can come away with a sweep with as close as every team is in our section,” Bethel Park coach Patrick Zehnder said. “We definitely have some things to clean up, but I think the way we played the last three innings is more an indication of who we really are.”
On Wednesday, Bethel Park trailed 6-3 after four innings before scoring three runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth inning to rally and win 8-6.
“Every team we’ve had has some type of special characteristic, and this team has the feeling they can win any game no matter what situation they are presented with,” Zehnder said. “I would love not to have to use this formula very often, but it is good to know we can do it, especially against a good team like Upper St. Clair.”
Even though both games were played at Boyce-Mayview Park in Upper St. Clair, Bethel Park was the home team on Thursday and quickly fell behind thanks to a fielder error and a throwing miscue.
Four straight singles in the bottom of the first by Caden Stokes, Nick Rillo, Mike Bruckner and Eric Miehl scored one run to tie the game, but Rillo was thrown out at the plate trying to score, keeping the game tied.
Panthers sophomores Evan Smirniw and Brooks York put USC back up in the second inning on a double and a run-producing single.
Upper St. Clair extended its lead in the top of the third inning by scoring three runs on only two hits with a walk, hit batter, another errant pickoff throw and a balk that directly scored a run.
But with the Black Hawks mistakes mounting, the Panthers felt they could have done more damage.
“I don’t think it was a lack of intensity in our at-bats,” Upper St. Clair coach Jeff Donati said. “It was just some unfortunate swings that maybe we should take a pitch here or there and look more into our zone like we were early.”
Bethel Park scored in the bottom of the third inning to cut the deficit to three runs when Stokes singled, stole second and scored on a Miehl double.
It was the second of four hits for Stokes out of the BP leadoff spot.
“Caden Stokes is a great spark plug at the top of the order,” Zehnder said. “He can find ways to get on base even when he isn’t crushing the ball all over the yard like he did (Thursday). He is also a great defender who will give up his body to get outs for his pitchers.”
The pitching settled down until USC scored in the top of the sixth inning on a Nico D’Orazio double that plated Cooper Stutzman to put the Panthers up, 6-2.
However, the never-say-die attitude of the Black Hawks came to life in the bottom of the sixth inning when Chase White doubled and scored on a Brayden Bruckner RBI single.
One out later, Tyler Stewart hit a slow ground ball that was muffed by the second baseman for the Panthers’ only miscue and the Hawks made them pay.
With two outs, Stokes singled home a run and Rillo followed with a two-run single to tie the game, 6-6.
In the seventh inning, White led off again with a double and Bruckner bunted, but the throw to third was late, setting up Ben Thomas to play the hero as the sophomore singled home White to win it for Bethel Park.
Aaron Goettler in relief suffered the loss for USC. He entered the game in the sixth inning in relief of sophomore starter Grayson Valancius, who allowed 11 hits in 5⅔ innings but only walked one, and three of the six runs allowed were unearned.
“Grayson did a great job maintaining the run game, holding the run game down,” Donati said. “He’s a 15-year old that we’re fortunate enough to have. Didn’t expect him to be in this role, but when we lost Nolan Wilson (to an arm injury), it kind of jumped him up to that.”
Michael Bruckner pitched a spotless top of the seventh inning and picked up the win for BP.
Junior Chase White, whose uncle Clark is an assistant coach for USC, pitched in relief of starter Mason Stewart and kept the Black Hawks close, plus he had the two big doubles to start rallies in the sixth and seventh innings.
“Chase White is a bulldog that can help the team in so many ways as he showed offensively and on the mound,” Zehnder said. “He was able to calm things down and put us in a position to chip away.”
After one week of Section 2-5A series action, Bethel Park is 2-0, Chartiers Valley, Moon, South Fayette and Trinity are 1-1 and Upper St. Clair is 0-2. Peters Township starts section play next week.