Norwin was cruising along with a six-run lead, and starter Matt O’Neil was in command, limiting Hempfield hitters into the fifth inning.
But in the short time Norwin took its eyes off the road, the host Spartans clapped back to make it a game.
Despite the mid-inning adversity, though, Norwin managed to hold on for a 6-5 victory in the teams’ Section 2-6A baseball opener Monday.
O’Neil earned his second win of the season for Norwin (3-1, 1-0), which built a 6-0 lead in the third inning before Hempfield (2-2, 0-1) rallied to close the gap to one.
Aidan Beveridge worked the final 2 1/3 innings to earn his second save of the season for the Knights, the returning WPIAL runner-up.
“I trusted our guys; I knew we had all of our ducks in order,” said O’Neil, who allowed three hits and struck out eight across 4 2/3 innings to earn the win. “I play summer baseball with the Hempfield guys. They’re great people and a great team, and I knew they weren’t going to go away.
“We hit the ball well today. We had a lot of two-strike, two-out hits.”
After an early sacrifice fly by Caden Sivrich opened the scoring for the Knights, Zane Markovitz, who went 2 for 3, led off the second inning with a solo home run to left center. The Knights added two more runs to go ahead 4-0 on a sac fly by Jake Knight and an RBI single from Trevor Vitsas, who was 2 for 3.
After a leadoff double by Sivrich in the third, Markovitz knocked in another run with a single, and Liam O’Donnell made it 6-0 with a sac fly.
“We had all the faith in our defense and bullpen,” Markovitz said. “We didn’t get worried when they came back.”
Hempfield finally got a hit in the third following back-to-back walks. Evan Dunlap smacked a two-out, three-run double to make it 6-3.
In the fourth, Andrew Jones cracked a solo homer — his second and the team’s sixth of the season — and an error with the bases loaded allowed Hempfield to close the gap to 6-5.
“Our guys showed a lot of heart,” Hempfield coach Tim Buzzard said. “We had some high-quality at-bats in the third through the fifth (innings). Both teams had opportunities.”
Norwin was retired in order in the fifth and sixth, and Hempfield had a golden opportunity in the sixth when it put runners at first and second with no outs.
An error and a hit-by-pitch gave the Spartans life. But Beveridge induced two flyouts before he struck out Ian Kovalcik, the catcher, who made a diving catch for the first out of the seventh.
Norwin wiped its collective brow and quickly turned the page.
“Hempfield is a very good team,” Norwin coach Craig Spisak said. “They are always well coached. (Beveridge) settled in and pitched well for us. Our guys didn’t quit. Our approach was really good today.”
Game 2 of the three-game series is set for 4 p.m. Tuesday at Norwin.
The third game is at 4:15 p.m. Thursday at Hempfield.
Hempfield took two of three last year from the Knights, including the opener 7-3.