Jun 11, 2013 5 min read

HOMER CITY – Veteran California High School baseball coach Don Hartman could have blamed it on having to play at First Commonwealth Bank Field, a pristine ballpark that has not been kind to the Trojans. California’s season has come to end here two years in a row.

Hartman also could have used Trojans starting pitcher Brian Fisher having to throw for the fifth consecutive game, including the last two on only three days rest, as an excuse. Very few high school pitchers can be successful with such a heavy workload.

And Hartman could have said that Tuesday simply wasn’t Cal’s day and shrugged off the Trojans’ 8-1 loss to Johnsonburg in the PIAA Class A baseball semifinals as one clunker in a season of success.

Instead, Hartman refused to make excuses. He gave credit where credit was due.

“I think we just got beat by a flat-out better baseball team,” Hartman said. “We lost at this point to Villa Maria, 4-3, in 2006, on a run in the last inning. I had a few sleepless nights after that one. Not this time. Give (Johnsonburg) credit. They did a great job.”

Johnsonburg (18-3) scored in each of the first four innings and cruised to the title game Friday at Penn State’s Medlar Field against District 4 champion Canton.

It will be the second state final this school year for Johnsonburg, located in Elk County. The Rams also played in the Class A basketball title game, and Johnsonsburg head coach Jeff Peterson says that big-game experience helped his team against California, which was trying to advance to the championship game for the first time since 1984.

Johnsonburg’s baseball team includes six starters who were members of the basketball team.

“These kids know how to handle any kind of pressure. They are used to playing pressure ball,” Peterson said. “We’re such a small school that the same kids play every sport. At the beginning of the season, I told this group that this could happen, but I don’t think they believed me.”

One of those players who shrug off pressure situations is Rams junior pitcher Cole Peterson, who, like Fisher, was throwing for the third time in the PIAA tournament and on only three days rest for the second consecutive outing. California (20-6) put runners on first and second with no outs in the top of the first inning, but Peterson got out of the jam with two strikeouts and a groundout.

“No doubt that was the big inning,” Jeff Peterson, Cole’s father, said. “If California would have scored right away, it could have opened up a whole can of worms. Once we got out of that, these guys thought they were sitting pretty.”

The outlook turned ugly for California in the next half-inning. Johnsonsburg’s first five batters reached base against Fisher as the Rams forged a 2-0 lead. Taylor Feranto drew a bases-loaded walk for the game’s first run and Quinn Luhr followed with an RBI-single. A botched suicide squeeze helped Cal escape with only a 2-0 deficit.

Johnsonsburg added two more runs in the second, which included a leadoff homer by Devon Zilcoski, the No. 8 hitter in the lineup. Fisher, who had been spectacular in the Trojans’ postseason run, lasted only four outs.

“He’s been our workhorse, throwing five games in a row,” Hartman said. “We were still going to go with him. But at this point, everyone is getting tired. He definitely wasn’t as sharp as he had been.”

Johnsonburg tacked on three more runs in the third, off reliever Josh Luko, to lead 7-0. The Rams’ runs scored on a bases-loaded hit batsman, sacrifice fly by Peterson and a throwing error. Frank Kocjancic’s single in the fourth inning drove home Luhr to give the Rams an 8-0 lead.

Peterson pitched the first four innings, allowing two singles. He struck out six and did not issue a walk. Luhr pitched the final three innings, allowing the Trojans’ lone run. Jake Columbus singled inside the third-base bag in the sixth inning and came around to score when Ronnie Baron hit a double into the right-field corner.

California was held to only four hits.

“The bottom line is couldn’t put runners on base,” Hartman said. “We had two runners on base in the first inning and 3-4-5 up. (Peterson) set down the next three. That was the tale of the tape today. Their pitchers did a great job, and their infield is fast up the middle. Their shortstop and second baseman took a couple of hits away from us.”

Even with the loss, Hartman said there is no reason for the Trojans to be disappointed. After all, this was supposed to be a rebuilding year.

“No one gave us a chance,” he said. “We were a section runner-up. We lost five four-year starters from last year’s team. It took us some time to find our team, but these guys exceeded expectations and continued the California tradition. Everyone in California should be extremely proud of the team behind me.”