Error, lack of hitting costs Canon-Mac
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Canon-McMillan High School’s baseball team returns to Wild Things Park Monday for its first round state playoff game against Dallastown.
Canon-McMillan’s Cameron Walker attempts to turn a double play as Hempfield’s Isaiah DiAndreth slides into second base Tuesday night in a WPIAL Class AAAA consolation game at Ross Memorial Park.
Canon-McMillan third baseman Matt Mish makes the throw to first base for an out Tuesday night against Hempfield.
The unlikely postseason run included incredible pitching performances, a walkoff base hit from an unsung senior, a quarterfinal upset that put Canon-McMillan in position for a spot in the PIAA playoffs and it looked like Zach Rohaley might add another intriguing chapter to the compelling narrative.
With every pitch Rohaley, a sophomore right-handed pitcher, threw Tuesday night, it looked more and more like the Big Macs’ rise to prominence would last at least another six days.
Rohaley was dominant with the Big Macs’ season on the line, spotting his curveball low and away while peppering fastballs inside.
His start and Canon-McMillan’s season took a sudden turn for the worse when Hempfield scored two runs in the fourth inning after a two-out error, and senior pitcher Matt Tarabek made the lead stick, as the Spartans defeated the Big Macs 3-1 in a WPIAL Class AAAA consolation game at Washington & Jefferson’s Ross Memorial Park.
The fourth-seeded Spartans (17-7) advanced to the first round of the PIAA playoffs, where they will play the WPIAL champion – either Plum or Norwin – Monday at a site and time to be determined. The seventh-seeded Big Macs (14-9) have not reached the state playoffs since they won the PIAA title in 2008.
It was an impressive performance by Rohaley, who struck out 10 and walked two. He mixed an 84-mile-per-hour fastball with a slow curveball that made opposing hitters chase, but he allowed four hits in the fourth inning, including three after the error, allowing Hempfield to take the lead.
“It seems like when we have our losses, it’s an error or a bad bounce, but that’s baseball,” Canon-McMillan head coach Tim Bruzdewicz said. “You have to play clean baseball and I just told our kids, every team at this level is as good as us. But we’re as good as every other team.”
After allowing a leadoff single in the fourth inning, Rohaley got a fielder’s choice and senior catcher Tanner Piechnick, an Ohio University recruit, threw out pinch-runner Nick Schade trying to steal second base, but the inning was extended when a one-hopper by Branson Auckerman popped out of shortstop Connor Coleman’s glove.
Mitch Golden followed with a single to left field and Charlie Varriano tied the score 1-1 with a double to left-centerfield.
Two pitches later, Justin Wright laced a single to left field to score pinch-runner Dylan Sikora for the lead.
The two-out rally came after Canon-McMillan led off the top of the inning with a single and Matt Mish reached on an error, but Tarabek, a Fordham recruit, got a strikeout and Wright turned a picturesque double play to end the threat.
Tarabek, who struck out five and allowed only four hits, retired nine of the 10 batters after the double play.
“That may have been the biggest play of the game,” Hempfield head coach Tim Buzzard said. “(Tarabek) really settled in after that. We did a great job when the second guy tried to bunt and made a great play in the field to end it. That was a big momentum swing for us.”
Hempfield got an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth, despite Rohaley striking out the first two batters he faced. Varriano, who went 2-for-3, hit a two-out single and Wright followed with a tailing line drive toward the gap in right-centerfield.The ball bounced on the outfield turf and over the head of Canon-McMillan center fielder Nick Serafino, allowing Varriano to score from first for a 3-1 lead as Wright slid safely into third with a triple.
It looked like it was going to be a long night for Tarabek when he couldn’t spot his fastball in the first inning, leaving it high and over the plate. Coleman led off the top of the first with a single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt.
Ian Hess singled, and five pitches later Coleman scored when Tarabek’s pickoff attempt went wide of first base.
Though Tarabek allowed a two-out single later in the inning, he got a groundout to limit the damage. The Big Macs had only one runner reach second base the rest of the game as Tarabek retired 17 of the final 20 batters he faced.
“We didn’t get a bunt down early on and the difference between 1-0 and 2-0 against a team like that is huge,” Bruzdewicz said. “If we would have gotten the second run, I think it might have been a different story. We just didn’t get it done. We have a lot of young kids we throw out there. I like what’s going to happen in the future.”