May 19, 2022 3 min read

MCKEES ROCKS – Coming into this season, it had been 13 years since Burgettstown baseball last won a playoff game.

The Blue Devils have won two in just three days and now need two more wins to get their first WPIAL championship.

Burgettstown, the sixth seed in Class 2A, took care of California, 14-4, Tuesday evening. In Thursday’s quarterfinal at Burkett Field near Montour High School, the Blue Devils upset No. 3 Shenango, 6-1, behind a six-run third inning and quality pitching performance from starter Nathan Klodowski.

It was a well-deserved triumph, one that has clinched a berth in the state tournament for the first time in Burgettstown history.

“We’ve got a good team,” coach Doug Tunno said. “Good pitching. You saw the (six-run) inning (when) we hit.”

For Klodowski, the win was “outstanding.”

He and his classmates struggled through a 4-12 record in 2019, a lost season in 2020 and a first-round exit last season.

This season has been much sweeter.

“It’s amazing,” he said. “This feeling, it’s awesome. I know we had five seniors coming in here. When we were freshmen, we knew we had a job to do. It wasn’t going to be easy.”

It can be argued that the key to Burgettstown’s explosive third inning happened in its previous at-bat.

In the top of the first, Shenango starting pitcher Tino Campoli retired the Blue Devils in order and only needed 12 pitches.

Campoli threw another scoreless frame in the second, but this time needed 30 pitches.

“That was big,” Tunno said.

In the third, Burgettstown went off for six runs and brought 10 batters to the plate. No. 3 hitter A.J. Kuzior drove in Jackson LaRocka with a single for the game’s first run. The Blue Devils added on one batter later when cleanup hitter Andrew Bredel singled home Eric Kovach to make it 2-0.

After A.J. Kuzior beat out a fielder’s choice at third to load the bases, Brodie Kuzior drove two more home with a double. With still only one out, the Blue Devils added a fifth when a sac fly by Maddox Gratchen plated Luke Lounder. A Sam Elich single then made it 6-0.

Shenango got a run in the bottom of the fifth, but it wasn’t nearly enough. Burgettstown’s offense had given Klodowski more than enough support.

“When you have six, you can basically do whatever,” Klodowski said. “A.J. (Kuzior) calls a great game behind the plate. I trust in him. He just knows what I want to throw. It’s easy. It’s fun.”

Klodowski’s day on the mound ended after the sixth inning because of being over the pitch-count limit, but he pitched a beauty, giving up just a run on five hits, walking three and striking out eight over six.

“Hell of a job,” Tunno said.

Klodowski attributed his success to one thing.

“My slider,” he said, “it’s absolutely astonishing for a hitter to hit. You saw guys just wailing at it. They couldn’t hit it. I can locate it amazingly. It’s my go-to pitch every time.”

Bredel pitched a scoreless seventh to close it out.

The Blue Devils will take on seventh-seeded Neshannock, who upset No. 2 Seton LaSalle in the semi-final.

No matter what happens the rest of the way, this season is one to remember for Klodowski and his teammates, particularly his senior classmates.

“We stuck together,” Klodowski said. “We played together since we were all kids. This feeling’s amazing.”