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Baseball MVP: David Shields, Mt. Lebanon

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David Shields was the mailman for Mt. Lebanon baseball this spring.

“He delivered every single start for us,” said Blue Devils coach Patt McCloskey. “He never had a bad game.”

McCloskey added that the obvious way to compliment Shields’ season was to point out his 106 strikeouts. That is a school record. Shields also owned a 0.94 ERA in 67 innings. He scattered 32 hits and walked 16.

“Those numbers are nothing short of absolutely amazing,” McCloskey said. “They will be hard to ever be matched by anyone else.”

However, the southpaw’s biggest impact on the club isn’t measured in statistics. McCloskey says that Shields is under “daily pressure” and “scrutiny” that no Mt. Lebanon baseball player has faced since Josh Wilson, who played on the 1998 state championship club before going pro.

“David is a phenomenal teammate who only cared about the team winning,” McCloskey said. “He plays high school baseball to demonstrate that it’s what you do in a game that actually makes you good at baseball, and that’s so important to reiterate in today’s changing baseball environment. When your best player is a 100 percent team player and 100 team focused on nothing but the team winning, you have something really special, and that was an absolutely critical part of our success. It’s hard to put into words how much of a great team player/leader he is.”

And, Shields just completed his sophomore year. “That’s what really deserves to be highlighted,” added McCloskey.

Shields guided the Blue Devils to a WPIAL championship and an appearance in the state finals after an 0-8 start. He tossed a no-hitter in Lebo’s 4-0 victory over North Allegheny in the WPIAL Class 6A title game May 31 at Wild Things Park. In the PIAA championship contest played June 17 at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park on the Penn State campus, Shields struck out eight and scattered six hits but the Blue Devils dropped a 4-1 decision to Father Judge.

Shields, who was a quarterback on the football team, will fast track his junior year academically to graduate next June so as to be eligible for the 2024 MLB draft. The University of Miami recruit has been invited to participate this summer in the six-day Prospect Development Pipeline (PDP) event in Cary, N.C. The event is conducted in conjunction with MLB and USA Baseball to develop and assess high school players eligible for the following year’s draft. Only 100 players in the country are invited to the event.

Andrew Bredel senior Burgettstown Evan Holewinski senior Bethel Park Ricky Lawson sophomore California Andrew Kocan senior Canon-McMillan Jack Lutte senior Peters Township Jack Natili senior Peters Township Ryan Opfer senior Chartiers-Houston Lincoln Pack senior Waynesburg Ryan Petras sophomore Bethel Park Tyler Pitzer junior South Fayette Tyler Smith senior Mt. Lebanon Austyn Winkleblech senior Canon-McMillan

Andrew Bredel, senior, Burgettstown

Evan Holewinski, senior, Bethel Park

Ricky Lawson, sophomore, California

Andrew Kocan, senior, Canon-McMillan

Jack Lutte, senior, Peters Township

Jack Natili, senior, Peters Township

Ryan Opfer, senior, Chartiers-Houston

Lincoln Pack, senior, Waynesburg

Ryan Petras, sophomore, Bethel Park

Tyler Pitzer, junior, South Fayette

Tyler Smith, senior, Mt. Lebanon

Austyn Winkleblech, senior, Canon-McMillan

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