In Upper St. Clair’s improbable run to the WPIAL Class 5A baseball championship, the Panthers seem to have a different player in each game have a standout performance at the plate or come up with the big hit when needed.
It truly was a total team effort to earn the title.
It appears that script isn’t changing now that the state playoffs have begun.
The latest hero was senior Cooper Stutzman, who launched a ball over the center fielder’s head in the bottom of the eighth inning to score Nico D’Orazio with the game-winning run as Upper St. Clair defeated visiting New Oxford in the first round of the PIAA Class 5A playoffs, 3-2, on Monday.
“I didn’t feel it,” Upper St. Clair coach Jeff Donati said of the winning hit. “I said (the center fielder) got a beat on it. I did not realize it was hit that far. That’s a senior who is a four-year letterman. I’m so happy for him because we have a lot of guys who have walked it off, and that is definitely his first.”
The star of the day had a different perspective then his coach.
“I knew I got it right off the bat. I was like, ‘Let’s go,’” Stutzman said moments after his big hit. “I knew I got it, and for a second, I thought he might get it, but it went over his head his head. We’ll take those all day.”
The problem for Stutzman and the Panthers is they didn’t get them all day. In fact, that was without question the hardest hit ball of the game for the Panthers off New Oxford junior pitcher Carter Wagaman, who had USC off balance nearly the entire game.
“That kid has done it all year,” Donati said of Wagaman. “We watched video of him, and I wish our kids would have made better adjustments earlier, but hats off to him, he was really, really good. When you can throw a good changeup whenever you want, that’s a problem.”
Wagaman’s line as the tough-luck loser was 7⅔ innings pitched, three runs, only one earned, five hits, no walks and no strikeouts.
USC never trailed but the No. 4 seed out of District 3 had an answer each time the Panthers took the lead.
Upper St. Clair started the scoring in the bottom of the third inning when Finn Baird delivered a one-out single for the Panthers’ first hit. Baird was forced at second on a ground ball by D’Orazio, who stole second and scored on a Evan Smirniw single to right field.
On the of the biggest sequences in the game occurred in the top of the fourth inning when Alex Brown singled, stole second base — one of five stolen bases for the very aggressive Colonials — and then was gunned out trying to steal third in a strike-‘em-out, throw-‘em-out double play.
“It’s just who we are,” New Oxford coach Scott Anderson said. ”We don’t have a lot of pop, so we have to do those things to manufacture runs. You know the old saying, dance with the one that brought you.”
That caught stealing really hurt when Jackson Brown followed with the only extra base hit of the game, a double to right-center field. He scored on a single by Kamden Lamke that tied the game, 1-1.
Both teams scored gift runs in their next at-bats.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Brooks York reached second on a throwing error, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on another wild pitch.
In the top of the fifth, with Colonials pinch runner Brandon Stafford at second and two outs, Gaivin Haifley hit a ground ball to third base where Tanner Schroeck picked it and threw low to first. When USC first baseman Smirniw couldn’t pick it, Stafford scored all the way from second to tie the game.
It stayed tied into the eighth inning when Upper St. Clair starting pitcher Grayson Valancius had to be lifted from the game after reaching the pitch count limit.
“Grayson had a phenomenal outing,” Donati said. “We brought Max (Dietrick) in to close it. Those guys were really, really good. That team runs the bases really well, and Max probably holds baserunners better than anybody else we have.”
Valancius pitched 7⅔ innings and allowed only one earned run on five hits with one walk and two strikeouts.
Dietrick, the winning pitcher in the WPIAL championship game and the expected starter in the state quarterfinals, came in and allowed a hit to Nolan O’Brien before striking out Alex Brown to end the rally.
D’Orazio reached second on another two-base throwing error by the Colonials third baseman with one out.
The next batter in the bottom of the eighth inning was Smirniw, and he hit a ground ball to short. D’Orazio didn’t break to third and was going back to second when he apparently blocked the view of the shortstop and no throw was made to first.
Nolan Wilson then hit what looked like it would be a 6-4-3 double play, but the relay throw to first was high and the umpire ruled the throw took Ayden Tracey off the bag.
Stutzman had been 0 for 3 to that point, but everything was forgotten on his shot to center as the Panthers celebrated another crazy win.
The loss was the end of an era for New Oxford (15-10), as Anderson announced that this, his 25th season as Colonials baseball coach, would be his last. He is retiring.
There are no retirement parties planned for Jeff Donati and the Panthers as they improve to 16-9 and will battle District 9 champion DuBois, a 2-1 winner over Montour on Monday, at a site and time to determined Thursday.
“This is a great place. I’m so thankful to be living here,” Stutzman said. “Everyone showed up, all of my best friends, all of my family, everyone. I’m glad to be playing Thursday.”