Jun 3, 2015 3 min read

When the sites for today’s PIAA Class A baseball quarterfinals were announced Tuesday, California High School baseball coach Nick Damico had to have some bad flashbacks.

The PIAA was sending the Trojans (20-2) back to First Commonwealth Field in Homer Center to face District 6 champion Homer-Center (17-5). The game is scheduled for a 4 p.m. start.

In other PIAA playoff games involving local teams, Section 3-AAA rivals Trinity and Belle Vernon will meet in a Class AAA softball quarterfinal at California University (3 p.m.), having split their two regular season meetings, while WPIAL Class A champion Jefferson-Morgan will travel to Fox Chapel (1 p.m.) to play District 10 champion Cochranton.

First Commonwealth Field has not been kind to California, the second-place team in the WPIAL this season, in recent trips into the PIAA playoffs.

In 2013, the Trojans dropped an 8-1 decision to Johnsonburg in the PIAA semifinals at the site, while in 2012, Bishop McCort ousted California, 7-1, in an opening-round game there.

“We’ve come up short there a couple of times,” said Damico, who was an assistant under Don Hartman on those teams before becoming head coach in 2014.

“But both of those teams went on to win the state championship.”

The Trojans hope to change that trend this time around and be the team that advances to the next round and possibly a state title.

To do that, they will have to solve Juniata Valley ace Konner Barton.

Barton has started three of Juniata Valley’s four playoff games, including a 3-1 win over Serra Catholic in the opening round of the PIAA tournament. In 17 postseason innings, he’s given up nine hits and three earned runs with 20 strikeouts, beating Homer-Center, Blairsville and Serra.

“They have a pretty good club,” Damico said. “The top of their order hits well and they’ve got a horse with decent velocity and a nice curveball who throws a lot of strikes.”

Barton only pitched three innings against Serra Catholic Monday, meaning he’ll be eligible to pitch again today. Damico will counter with his ace, Garitt Woodburn, who threw four shutout innings in the Trojans’ 10-0, six-inning win over Oswayo Valley in the opening round Monday.

Damico wasn’t happy Woodburn fell behind many of the Oswayo batters in that game, but the two spoke about a mechanical issue the head coach feels will make his senior workhorse more effective.

“He was just coming open with his front shoulder,” Damico said. “He needs to understand that we can’t afford to be falling behind hitters 2-0 as we get deeper into this thing. But it’s not like he’s not trying to throw strikes. He’s been a workhorse for us. We’re confident in him.” As he is with California’s offense. The Trojans had nine hits against Oswayo Valley and their 10-run outburst was the 14th time this season they have had 10 or more runs in a game this season.

“We just need to keep playing good ball and keep our offense rolling,” Damico said.

One nice thing for Damico is many of his players weren’t around for the team’s previous losses at First Commonwealth Field.

The Trojans have six seniors and three juniors, but start four sophomores in Johnny DeFranco, Nate Luketich, Alex Adams and Bobby Harris.

“They’re a pretty relaxed group,” Damico said. “The only time they seemed uncomfortable was some of the young guys in the WPIAL championship game. People don’t realize that we’re pretty young. We’ve got four new starters. But they’re handling everything well.”