Rockets flame out against Union
Allowing a disastrous six-run third inning doomed the chances of Jefferson-Morgan High School to qualify for the PIAA baseball tournament, and capitalize on the Rockets’ first WPIAL Class A playoff win in 16 years earlier this month.
The Rockets were unable to score a single run, falling to an upstart Union squad 12-0 Wednesday afternoon at Ross Memorial Park.
“We didn’t play well, and I’m not sure why,” Jefferson-Morgan head coach John Curtis said. “That’s one of the worst performances we’ve had all year in any game, including Game 1, and I don’t know why. We needed to make a play and we didn’t make a play.”
In the difference-making third inning, Union managed to go through its entire batting order en route to its six runs, while keeping the bases loaded for most of the inning.
While the Scotties hit well, most of the runs and stolen bases came off Jefferson-Morgan errors. The Rockets finished with five errors and allowed four unearned runs in the third inning alone.
“It wasn’t a good day for us, and I hate to see our seniors go out like that because they work hard in the offseason, and had a good regular season and a couple good playoff games,” Curtis said.
For Jefferson-Morgan, it was always one step forward, followed swiftly by two steps back against Union. Their errors ranged from dropped fly balls in the outfield to missed catches at first base.
To make matters worse, the Rockets fared poorly at the plate and on the bases, recording just six hits.
“We’ve gone over everything, our bunt defenses, our first and third defenses, our hitting,” Curtis said. “Guys just ran the bases pathetically, and I don’t know where that came from. They didn’t see signs, and they did things when we didn’t have a sign.”
Also, Curtis felt like the team’s performance in the game was a continuation of their disappointing showing in their 7-1 loss against Greensburg Central Catholic in the semifinals.
The lone bright spot in the game for Jefferson-Morgan came in the fourth inning, when Isaac Dean blasted a leadoff triple to the outfield fence, but the Rockets were unable to make the most of it.
Matt Costello, a right-handed junior with a zipping fastball and a sharply breaking curve ball, has been the driving force for Union in the WPIAL playoffs.
“I think he’s 3-0 with somewhere around 30 strikeouts,” Union head coach Bill Sanders said. “As he goes, we go.”
In addition to his nine strikeouts, Costello went 4-for-5, recording a number of crucial base hits for the Scotties.
“He mixes his fastball and his curve ball really nicely,” Curtis said. “He had our guys off balance. He played a good game.”
For Union, the winner of either District 9 or 10 awaits in the first round of the PIAA tournament next week.
“We’ve been preaching to them all week to play loose and have fun,” Sanders said. “If we get in, you never know what happens. Last year, we came down here in kind of the same situation and laid an egg. We’ve been working on these guys all week to stay up and stay loose, and its something they wanted.”