Rochester comes up short in WPIAL 1A semis against Union, 3-2
NESHANNOCK TWP. — The members of the Rochester High School baseball team found out the hard way that the difference between advancing to the championship game and having to face an elimination game for a third place in the WPIAL Class 1A comes down to one little word.
If.
With one out in the bottom of the second and Union’s Tyler Staub on first base, left-handed hitting right fielder Rocco Galmarini came to the plate. Sensing bunt, Rochester head coach Brian Verrico called for third baseman Logan Lyons to charge for a bunt. Galmarini popped up the bunt over Lyons’ head, it rolled into left field, and before the Rams recorded the second out, Union had scored three times enroute to a 3-2 win.
Union will now play Eden Christian for the WPIAL title and Rochester will play Our Lady of the Sacred Heart for third place in the WPIAL and a berth in the PIAA playoffs.
“We kicked around bringing him in or not,” said Verrico, standing in front of a quiet dugout at Neshannock’s Mike “Bubba” Kirkwood Field. Had it gone differently, he would probably have been soaked in Gatorade. “We chose to bring him in because it was a left-handed batter and we thought he’d bunt it that way.
“The third inning wasn’t kind to us.”
After the bunt that would have been right to where Lyons was, the Rams had Staub picked off at second but, instead, a throwing error advanced both runners. Staub scored on a wild pitch, Mike Gunn drove in a run with a single, and Mark Stanley drove in the final run with another hit.
In Union’s other five innings against starter Sal Laure, the Scotties managed only two other hits and only one runner got past first base.
“Sal pitched a heckuva game,” Verrico said. “He didn’t deserve to lose.”
Laure also did his part at the plate.
In the first, he walked, stole second, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on Ethan Blair’s double. Rochester scored in the sixth when Parker Lyons reached on a two base error and came around to score. The Rams left runners in scoring position in both the sixth or seventh innings.
For many of these Rochester baseball players, this wasn’t their first WPIAL semifinal loss this season, but it’s the first time there will be a second chance. The Rams fell in the football semifinals to OLSH, ironically their next opponent.
“These guys will be chomping at the bit to play,” said Verrico. “I won’t have to do a lot of motivation.”
This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Rochester comes up short in WPIAL 1A semis against Union, 3-2
