Spartans no match for heavy-hitting Eagles

By Liam Belan

lbelan@yourmvi.com

With an 18-3 victory at Brentwood on Tuesday, the Serra Catholic baseball team finished the season with a perfect 12-0 record in Section 3-2A play as they had already retained the conference crown.

The Eagles (15-1) needed just five innings to get the job done, using hot bats through the lineup.

“I challenged them before because I knew (Brentwood starting pitcher Michael O’Leary) had 19 strikeouts against Greensburg Central Catholic and 15 against Riverview, so we prepared for a left-handed pitcher,” Serra Catholic skipper Brian Dzurenda said. “I was very pleased with our approach at the plate today. We hit three home runs, and I thought we struck the ball well.”

Collin Holmes totaled four RBIs with two home runs while Jake Holmes tallied three RBIs with a dinger of his own. Zach Black and Owen Dumbroski also added three hits each as Black had four RBIs and Dumbroski brought one run in.

Dumbroski earned the win on the mound as four different Eagles pitched in the victory. Serra’s starter went two hitless innings and struck out four as O’Leary was the only batter to reach base on an error with Dumbroski working.

“Defensively we were good,” Dzurenda said. “I was trying to keep everyone under the 50-pitch mark because we have Yough on Thursday, so I wanted everyone eligible to pitch. But I wanted to get a few guys work on the mound today and we did that.”

For the Spartans (6-11, 2-10), they will take on South Allegheny Thursday to finish their season as they missed out on a playoff spot.

On Tuesday, O’Leary was tagged with the loss as he allowed 10 hits and 12 runs over three frames. Offensively, he went 1 for 1 with a 2RBI single and a walk while Zach Wuenschell drove in the final Brentwood run in the fourth inning.

The first four Eagles reached base as Zach Black drove in Petty to make it 1-0 early. Max Black also drove in Jake Holmes during a four-run spurt before the end of the first.

Dumbroski ripped a single to plate Petty and Zach Black singled to bring Dumbroski home in the second before the Eagles really blew the contest open in the third.

The entire lineup took an at-bat in the third inning, starting with Collin Holmes reaching on an error. Serra Catholic put up several runs as Collin Holmes blasted a three-run shot on his second at-bat in the inning before Max Black ended the frame.

Brentwood responded with two runs in the third as Petty entered the game on the mound and struggled with control.

He managed two outs but allowed a two-run single from O’Leary and walked four of the seven batters he faced before Mark Johnson entered in relief and got the final out.

Brentwood also scored the next run in the fourth inning to bring its total to three as Ian Harrington scored on a groundout from Wuenschell.

The Eagles decided to end it in the fifth inning as the lineup once again doubled back starting with Petty.

Dumbroski and Zach Black got on base to set up a 3-run bomb for Jake Holmes. Collin Holmes then launched another longball on back-to-back at-bats. Matt McNeil and Jadell Minniefield also knocked in runs to end the scoring at 18-3.

“I’m very pleased with where we are right now,” Dzurenda said. “We’re going to scrimmage Uniontown on Saturday and we have Yough on Thursday so we’ll see. We’re going to treat that Yough game like a scrimmage. I’m going to throw six or seven guys to get work in, and Saturday will be the same thing at Uniontown. We’ll be working on things that we need to going into the playoffs.”