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Hoffman’s heat silences West Greene

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Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter

West Greene pitcher Patrick Brady applies the tag that catches Cornell’s Dae Collins attempting to score after a wild pitch.

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West Greene second baseman Braden Mooney covers the bag as shortstop Caleb Rice fields a ground ball in the WPIAL playoff game agains Cornell at Peterswood Park on May 16.

McMURRAY – It was an escort 25 years in the making.

As the West Greene High School baseball team walked out for its early dismissal to play its first playoff game since 1993, so did a majority of the student body to form a tunnel to the bus.

Just over four hours and seven innings later, Cornell starting pitcher Hayden Hoffman was escorting the Pioneers out of the playoffs.

Despite a diminutive frame, the hard-throwing right-hander shined on the mound at Peterswood Park, striking out 16 hitters and surrendering only two hits as eight-seeded Cornell shut out No. 9-seed West Greene, 5-0, in a WPIAL Class A first-round game Wednesday.

The win meant much more than advancing to play top-seeded Vincentian Academy in the quarterfinals Monday at a site and time to be determined. It was the first playoff victory in school history for Cornell (10-4).

“I only have one dozen players on my team because that’s all that would come out and play,” said Cornell coach Brian Mihalyi. “Needless to say, at the beginning of the year, I didn’t see our season going this route. But these guys have done a fantastic job and have earned it.”

Nobody earned the win more for the Raiders than Hoffman, who missed the first seven of the tightly gripped and nervous bats of West Greene (7-11). Hoffman struck out 10 – all with the fastball – in the first four innings.

“I was just throwing fastballs because (West Greene) couldn’t hit it,” Hoffman said. “It felt good. I had good control, was hitting the corners and getting strike calls. It was just about throwing strikes and keeping it simple.”

The first ball West Greene put in play was a groundout to the Raiders’ shortstop in the third inning. Hoffman didn’t allow the Pioneers to get their first hit until the top of the sixth inning on a single up the middle by Joe Reed.

“I have to hand it to him, that’s probably the most heat we’ve seen all season,” West Greene coach Shawn Lohr said about Hoffman’s pitching. “We had a tough time adjusting. It was just the perfect storm.”

The slow-starting Cornell offense also needed a spark from Hoffman, who beat out an infield single sliding into first base and eventually scored the first run of the game on a line-drive single from Cody Maxwell in the fourth inning. The Raiders added insurance runs on a fielder’s choice in the fifth inning and three runs in the sixth, including a two-run double by leadoff hitter Tony Piccolo, to lead 5-0.

“We are a good baseball team when we get good pitching and play good defense,” Lohr said. “But that sixth inning was a killer. I know we had nerves today. (The nerves) were even there for me.”

The lone threat West Greene presented was a deep fly ball from No. 3 hitter Christian Fox that went a few feet to the wrong side of the left-field foul pole. It would have been a two-run homer.

“That would have made it a 2-1 game,” Lohr said. “It would have been a game-changer. A couple of feet are sometimes the difference, but my eyes lit up when it hit the bat.”

Hoffman was one out shy of a complete-game victory after being pulled when he hit the 100-pitch limit. Stefan Blackstone got the final out in relief to preserve the win.

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