PT keeps hope alive, edges USC
McMURRAY – With the news of the Baldwin-Carrick Section 5-AAAA baseball game being postponed earlier in the day, Peters Township and Upper St. Clair knew the winner of Friday night’s showdown at Peterswood would still have a postseason heartbeat.
In front of their home crowd, the Indians took advantage of a stellar pitching performance from senior Bob Finn to eliminate the Panthers from the postseason with a 5-4 victory.
“This was one that we needed,” Indians coach Joe Maize said. “We gave the ball to our senior. He has given us some good innings this year.”
Finn went six innings, allowing two runs on five hits and struck out two. He also came up with a clutch two-out, two RBI double in the second inning.
“He has been wanting to hit for us,” Maize said. “He was strong with the bat. He came through for us tonight. That double was well placed.”
The Indians struck first on Panthers’ start, Andrew Wheeler, who shut the Indians out in their first meeting of the season.
In the bottom of the second, the Indians scored all three runs with two outs and no one on base. Ryan Tassone started the rally with a double. He would come around on an RBI single by Tim Swoope. After a walk to designated hitter Tor Schnert, Finn doubled him and Swoope in for the 3-0 advantage.
“I thought Andrew pitched well enough to win,” Panthers coach Jerry Malarkey said. “It was that one inning. I thought he pitched really well.”
The Panthers put themselves in perfect position to retaliate, but couldn’t come through with clutch hits.
In the top of the third, the Panthers loaded the bases with no outs and scored their first run on an error. With his back against the wall, Finn and the Indians dug deep. After striking out the next batter, Finn induced an inning-ending double play to second baseman Phil Mary.
“That has been the story of our season,” Malarkey said. “We haven’t been able to be productive with guys in scoring position.”
The Panthers cut the deficit in half on an RBI single in the sixth by Marcus Gabe, but the Indians found another answer.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Indians scored what ended up being much needed insurance on a wild pitch and Swoope’s second RBI single.
“We have been missing that key base hit in some of the games and tonight Tim came through for us,” Maize said.
Upper St. Clair was able to muster up a rally, scoring two runs in the top of the seventh but sophomore Eric Riotto was able to shut the door for the save.
The win moves the Indians to 5-6 in section and 10-8 overall, pushing them a half game behind Baldwin and Bethel Park for the final playoff spot in the section. Baldwin can clinch the section’s final playoff berth with one more win.
The Panthers dropped to 4-7, 7-9.
“We had higher expectations for what the season was going to be,” Malarkey said. “We had a bad stretch in the middle of the season. One bad week and you are done in this section.”