Bethel Park and South Fayette split decisions recently in their two-game series on the diamond.

As a result, the teams were tied for first place in Section 2-5A. Bethel Park was 6-2 overall after starting out 5-0.

“It does appear we are in a good place at the halfway point, but I still have yet to see us put together a complete game from start to finish,” said Pat Zehnder, the Black Hawks coach. “We have not been able to string together consecutive good innings on the mound, defensively or at the plate.”

Because of the typical inclement spring weather, the Black Hawks were not able to conduct a practice outside until April 9.

“We’re excited to practice on a baseball field and to get some warm weather and sunshine,” Zehnder said. “I’m excited to see how much better we get as we start to get real baseball practices in on a regular basis.

“We have shown great perseverance and toughness to scratch out runs when needed to come from behind, but we have found ourselves in too many deficits late in games because we aren’t doing what is needed offensively until we absolutely are forced to, and we haven’t been pounding the strike zone consistently enough.”

Bethel Park was hitting .349 as a team with a .464 on-base percentage.

The team leader offensively was senior Mike Bruckner (INF/P) with a .445 batting average, .636 on-base percentage and .682 slugging percentage.

Seven other players were hitting .300 or better: junior C/OF Eric Miehl (.393), junior 1B/OF Michael Hladio (.389), junior OF/INF Caden Stokes (.360), sophomore OF/P Ben Thomas (.357), junior INF/P Chase White (.320), OF/P Owen Turoski (.318) and senior P/UTIL Nick Rillo (.313).

“We have had a relatively consistent lineup with some exceptions, ” Zehnder said, “but some changes could be coming. I am looking for us to find ways to string together consecutive efficient innings offensively, defensively and on the mound.

“We have been too inconsistent in the first half. We have either gotten away with it by coming back from behind late or lost close games because we weren’t able to dig out of the deep hole we dug for ourselves.”

Bruckner, Thomas (.571) and Miehl (.536) were the team’s leading sluggers while Bruckner, Rillo and Miehl led in total bases. White and Stokes had scored the most runs.

Junior INF/OF Brayden Bruckner, Rillo, Mike Bruckner and Miehl paced the club in RBIs. Miehl also had the team lead in doubles.

Bethel Park’s pitching staff has been led by left-handed senior Matthew Hughes and right-handed senior Mason Stewart. Hughes was 1-0 with 18 strikeouts and a 2.68 ERA in 152/3 innings of work. Stewart was 1-2 with 12 strikeouts in 112/3 innings.

Two other hurlers the Black Hawks count on are senior Tyler Stewart, who was 2-0, and Mike Bruckner, at 1-0 with one save.

Jace Rendulic, a junior, and Turoski also had one win apiece while Rillo posted two saves.

Overall, Bethel Park hurlers had fanned 58 batters in 571/3 innings and allowed 32 earned runs.

Mike Bruckner (Akron), Hughes (Coppin State), Rillo (Marietta), Stewart (Cal, Pa.) and Turoski (La Roche) all have made their college commitments.

“I believe we will be exponentially better at the end of April compared to where we are now.,” Zehnder said.