Jefferson-Morgan starts fast, rockets to first playoff win in 16 years
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Jefferson-Morgan coach John Curtis, right, has had 358 victories to celebrate in his time with the Rockets.
Jefferson-Morgan pitcher Gage Clark got the win against Sewickley Academy in Monday’s WPIAL Class A quarterfinal game.
Jefferson-Morgan’s Eli Rafail scores as the ball gets past Sewickley Academy catcher Derrick Littlefield during Monday’s WPIAL Class A quarterfinal game at Peterswood Park.
McMURRAY – As a rule, baseball teams don’t like to have an 11-day layoff between the end of the regular season and the start of the playoffs, which is what the Jefferson-Morgan High School squad was saddled with, the result of being the No. 4 seed in Class A and the recipient of a first-round bye.
Many things can go askew when there are so many idle days without a game and an opponent to play. The Rockets couldn’t even find an opponent to scrimmage during that span, so there were obvious concerns that the Rockets’ performance might be a little rusty during the WPIAL quarterfinals Monday against Sewickley Academy.
“I was thinking about that all week,” Jefferson-Morgan pitcher Gage Clark admitted. “We haven’t faced anyone in almost two weeks. How would we do? How would we execute?”
With the exception of one shaky inning defensively, the Rockets’ performance was very good.
Clark pitched into the seventh inning and the Rockets scored seven runs over the first three innings and held off a late charge to beat Sewickley Academy, 7-6, at Peterswood Park.
The win sends Jefferson-Morgan (12-5), the Section 2 champion, into the semifinals Wednesday against section rival Greensburg Central Catholic.
It was the first playoff win for Jefferson-Morgan since 2001. That victory was over Bishop Canevin and also was played at Peterswood.
“This feels awesome,” J-M coach John Curtis said. “I feel so good for my seniors. They had never been in the playoffs before.”
The Rockets, however, looked like the playoff-tested team in the first inning while Sewickley Academy (11-6) kept giving the Rockets scoring chances. After Sewickley Academy took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, J-M answered with four runs on only two hits in the bottom of the inning.
After singles by Clark and Eli Rafail to open the inning, Sewickley Academy starter Joey Straka hit Isaac Dean with a pitch and walked Joe Headlee to force in a run and tie the score. One out later, Jake Broadwater hit a grounder to third baseman Dimitri Gray, who threw home in attempt to force out Rafail but the throw was wide and J-M took a 2-1 lead.
Brennan Kozich was hit by a pith to force in a run and Headlee made it 4-1 when he scored as Devin Stoneking bounced into a forceout.
“I told my assistant, Dave Devecka, that we needed to have a good start,” Curtis said. “I saw (Straka) pitch their first-round game against Springdale and I knew we were able to hit him. I felt confident we would be able to score.”
The Rockets scored again in the second inning, pushing the lead to 6-1 on a two-run single by Broadwater that scored Dean and Headlee.
Stoneking drew a walk and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by Rafail to give J-M a 7-1 lead in the third.
Meanwhile, Clark was cruising on the mound. The senior lefty retired nine consecutive Panthers at one stretch and 13 of 14 leading up to the sixth inning.
The Rockets’ defense broke down in the sixth, committing three errors that led to three Sewickley Academy runs. Ian Diehle, who drove in the Panthers’ run in the first inning, had an RBI single in the sixth, as did Declan Hickton.
Clark gave up a leadoff triple John Delvecchio in the seventh and was removed because of the pitch-count limit. Clark, one of five senior starters for the Rockets, gave up nine hits but did not issue a walk and struck out six. They key to Clark’s outing was not allowing walks.
“Sewickley Academy is a pretty good team. Their top four batters can really hit,” Clark said. “I had to throw the curveball in there and pound the strike zone.”
Broadwater was called upon to close the game and gave up an RBI single to Panthers catcher Derrick Littlefield, the son of former Pittsburgh Pirates general manager Dave Littlefield, that made the score 7-5.
Littlefield would eventually score but Broadwater was able to induce three consecutive groundouts to end the game.
The Rockets will get a third meeting with GCC (11-4), which upset top-seeded Vincentian Academy 1-0 in the quarterfinals, on Wednesday in the semifinals. Jefferson-Morgan beat the Centurions in a pair of close games on consecutive days earlier this month to win the section title.
“There are no secrets between these two teams,” Curtis said.