Relaxed Indians gain confidence, victory over C-M
Peters Township’s Conor Manning hits a double in the fourth inning Monday against Canon-McMillan.
Peters Township’s Boomer Kemp is waved home by third-base coach Rudy Pokorny during the Indians’ three-run fifth inning Monday against Canon-McMillan.
Canon-McMillan’s Nick Serafino prepares to tag Peters Township’s Tor Sehnert at second base Monday during the fourth inning.
Peters Township Eric Riotto allowed three runs in four innings Monday to defeat Canon-McMillan.
Peters Township’s Adam Jaworski takes a lead off second base Monday behind Canon-McMillan pitcher Cameron Weston.
CANONSBURG – A baseball player can only take so many swings in a batting cage. That sort of repetition is important to break out of bad habits, but sometimes the trick is simple encouragement and the person delivering the message can make the difference.
Ask Eric Riotto. When he started the season 3-for-15, the junior third baseman/pitcher texted his older brother, Nick, a Trinity graduate and a starting outfielder at Penn State, asking for advice. Who better to ask than a guy who was recently named the Big Ten Baseball Player of the Week?
Nick’s advice wasn’t anything ground-breaking: stay disciplined and sit on the outside fastball, but it worked wonders for his younger brother. Eric certainly looked comfortable Monday and he wasn’t the only Peters Township player who has rediscovered some confidence.
Riotto, the Indians’ No. 7 hitter, smackd a two-run triple in the third inning and senior shortstop Alex Mundy’s bases-clearing three-run double in the fifth helped Peters Township defeat arch-rival Canon-McMillan, 10-3, in a Section 5-AAAA game at McDowell Lane Field Monday.
Riotto, a junior righthander who was the winning pitcher, allowed three runs in four innings and went 1-for-3 as Peters Township scattered 11 hits.
“It’s incredible,” Riotto said. “When everyone is working together like a team should, it all clicks. It’s hard to stop and we’ll win like that. If we can do that we’ll be all right.”
With Canon-McMillan starting pitcher Zach Rohaley struggling to command his curveball, Riotto waited for the outside fastball. He drilled the 2-1 pitch to right-centerfield to score two and give the Indians (4-2, 6-5) a 4-1 lead.
After senior catcher Brody Cararie, Peters Township’s No. 9 hitter, led off the fourth inning with a single, senior designated hitter Conor Manning drove him in with a double to right field.
The Indians loaded the bases with two outs in the fifth against Canon-McMillan relief pitcher Cameron Weston, and Mundy delivered by driving an outside fastball into the gap in right-centerfield to clear the bases and make it 8-3.
Every starter for Peters Township had at least one hit, and the bottom four hitters in the order were a combined 5-for-11 with four RBI and six runs.
“The last two games, it seems like our kids are being more relaxed at the plate and letting their ability take over,” Maize said. “That was a key today. There are kids who were pressing. They put so much pressure on themselves. Today, that bottom of the lineup really came through for us.”
Peters Township got two insurance runs in the sixth after it loaded the bases with no outs. A throwing error allowed one run to score and the second came on a sacrifice fly by senior left fielder Boomer Kemp.
The Big Macs (2-4, 5-6), who lost their third consecutive game and are in sixth place midway through their section schedule, committed two errors and made other mental mistakes that led to runs.
Canon-McMillan stranded nine runners and the top five in the batting order combined for only two hits. The Big Macs led the Indians in the first inning after senior shortstop Connor Coleman hit a leadoff triple and he scored on a groundout by sophomore second baseman Nick Serafino.
The Big Macs added two runs in the fourth on a single by Cam Walker and Riotto got out of the jam with back-to-back outs. Peters Township sophomore left-handed pitcher Nolan Thompson retired seven of the first eight batters he faced before he loaded the bases in the seventh inning, but Canon-McMillan could not get a clutch hit, striking out to end the game.
“What it always seems to be with us is one play dictates the game,” Canon-McMillan head coach Tim Bruzdewicz said. “We don’t react well to that. It seems to really haunt us. Our pitchers take it to heart, our fielders take it to heart and it starts snowballing. After the last two losses that were so tight and we were winning late in the game, I think this one really took the wind out of their sails.”
It did the opposite for Peters Township, which sits in third place in the section. The Indians’ confidence and comfort at the plate is back after suffering back-to-back devastating losses to Bethel Park and Mt. Lebanon.
Two wins and finding some confidence can have quite the affect on a baseball team.
“It’s fun. It’s loose,” Riotto said. “We’re having a ball.”