Owen Metz was the starting pitcher for the Riverview baseball team in Monday’s PIAA Class 2A first-round game against District 10 champion Mercyhurst Prep.
Miles Duncan was behind the plate for the rematch of last year’s first-round contest with the Lakers.
Lukas Duncan started in center field. He was flanked by Ian Stempfer in left and Owen Orbich in right.
Around the diamond stood Liam Tomlinson at third, Rex Roberts at short, Ashton Saunders at second and Jake Sprajcar at first.
Dom DelRosso was the designated hitter.
That could be the lineup for next year’s opener.
There might be some changes in positions, but coach Bill Gras won’t have to say goodbye to any of them or key reserves Ben Radelet and Nate Boyer.
Everyone on the roster from this year’s WPIAL third-place team, which finished 15-8 with a 4-0 loss to the Lakers, are underclassmen and can come back next year.
With some younger players ready to bolster the ranks, Gras is excited to see what this team can do as they look to take that next step in the WPIAL and hope for a return to states in 2027.
“The guys played their hearts out (Monday) against a very good Mercyhurst Prep team,” Gras said. “The guys never quit. As long as they had at-bats, they were battling.”
The Lakers and Raiders played even baseball except for one half inning when Prep scored all of the game’s runs. They collected just two hits but took advantage of three Riverview errors.”
Riverview, which finished with three hits off Prep Division I commit Hunter Krahe, had their chances to score.
They threatened in the sixth by loading the bases with two out. Stempfer and Miles Duncan singled off Krahe, and Metz drew a walk.
Krahe excited the game at that point, but reliever Brady Rice came on and got the final out with a groundout to end the attempted Raiders uprising.
Gras said there was a little frustration and disappointment after Monday’s loss from a group that had high hopes entering the state tournament after a 3-1 run in the WPIAL playoffs that featured two close wins, a competitive loss to the top seed, and a dominating performance for third place, which lifted them to the PIAA bracket.
Riverview’s postseason journey this spring, in a way, mirrored last year’s run.
The Raiders, who finished runner-up to South Side in the battle for the Section 3 title, earned the No. 4 seed for the WPIAL playoffs and made the plays they needed to edge No. 13 Frazier, 5-4, in the first round.
They took out No. 5 Laurel, 4-2, in the quarterfinals before falling to No. 1 Fort Cherry in the semifinals.
Riverview found itself back at Washington & Jefferson’s Ross Memorial Park for the third game with South Side. The teams split their section series, and Riverview broke the tie in a big way with a 12-2, six-inning triumph.
Miles Duncan, who hit his first varsity home run against South Side, finished the season with a team-leading .422 average (27 of 64). His nine doubles also were a team best.
Lukas Duncan was right behind his twin brother, batting .419 (26 for 62) with seven doubles. He fronted the lineup with 21 RBIs.
Riverview batted .300 as a team and scored 5.4 runs a game.
Lukas Duncan, Roberts and Metz are expected to again form the core of an effective pitching staff next spring when the Raiders drop down to Class A for the next two-year alignment cycle.
Gras said the players responded well to a couple of new coaches this spring, and with the entire coaching staff set to be back next year, it will go a long way toward furthering team continuity.
“The kids responded on the field in games and in practice,” he said. “It’s all positive going into next year.”
The team members will go their separate ways for the summer. The Duncan twins will play together in the Youngstown B league, and Sprajcar and Tomlinson, both freshman, and DelRosso, a sophomore, will stay together on the newly formed Plum Legion team in the District 31 League.
Stempfer and Roberts are expected to play a lot of golf over the next few months as they get set for the fall high school season and what they hope is another run to the PIAA tournament.
“Everyone is doing something,” Gras said. “We’re going to get the eighth graders together here sometime in the next month or so and introduce them to our program and get them ready for fall ball.”