May 23, 2018 5 min read

UPPER ST. CLAIR – The demons of the WPIAL semifinals seemed real for the Canon-McMillan High School baseball team.

Real enough that the exits of the past two seasons – the Big Macs have lost two straight semifinal games and have missed out on WPIAL championships and berths in the state playoffs – have been a painful reminder.

But as Zach Rohaley, Connor Flaherty and Nick Gregory – the bottom three hitters in the Canon-McMillan batting order – approached the plate, the trio of seniors wasn’t going to allow another season to end in similar heartbreak.

The bottom three in the Big Macs’ lineup drove in six runs as fourth-seeded Canon-McMillan held on to an early lead to defeat top-seeded Pittsburgh Central Catholic, 8-5, in a Class 6A semifinal game at Boyce Mayview Park Wednesday afternoon.

It’s the first time Canon-McMillan (16-5) has advanced to a title game under the current name. Their only two other baseball titles were in 1935 and 1936 as Canonsburg High School. The Big Macs will play either North Allegheny or Hempfield for the championship at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Wild Things Park, where they played their entire home schedule this season.

“I can sleep,” said C-M coach Tim Bruzdewicz. “I haven’t slept in two days. I’m an ugly man to start with. Our 6 through 9 hitters have been a little sluggish, especially the second half of the year when they’ve hit about .230. They came up big today. This game was so emotional, so quick that I did not know what happened.”

What happened was Flaherty, who had a walkoff infield single in the quarterfinals against Plum, and Nick Gregory, who had barely picked up a bat throug the entire season, ignited a big third inning for Canon-McMillan.

With two outs and the bases loaded in the third, Flaherty worked the count in his favor before sending a 3-1 pitch over the head of the Central Catholic left fielder, scoring Ian Hess and Gregory Siller. In the next at-bat, Gregory, who typically plays the field then has a designated hitter take his spot in the order, blooped a two-run single and give Canon-McMillan a 7-2 lead.

“I didn’t get really much of an opportunity this year to swing the bat,” Gregory said. “I’ve probably batted in four or five games and maybe have 12 or 13 plate appearances. It was a situation with runners on base, which turned out to be two huge runs, I just focused on an outside pitch and went with it.”

Rohaley’s single in the first inning game the Big Macs and starting pitcher Ian Hess a three-run lead early.

They needed as much wiggle room as they could get.

After Hess exited after the second inning, Central Catholic (15-5) rallied without having to swing the bat. The Vikings scored three runs on five walks and no hits in the fifth inning before it was ended on a controversial batter’s interference call on a steal play.

“I don’t mind if they see it and call it correctly,” said Central Catholic coach Pat Walsh. “It was clear as day (the catcher) pump faked to second and was going to third (with the throw). The ump said our batter interfered with the throw down to second and that’s when I got a little upset. Our batter wasn’t anywhere near him. It was tough call but one call doesn’t make a game.”

It ended an opportunity with the go-ahead run at the plate and kept the Vikings’ deficit to two runs, 7-5. They also had the tying run on first with the bases loaded in the sixth before C-M relief pitcher Cam Weston struck out a batter on a full count with two outs.

“We had a couple of chances late in the game but didn’t get the big hit,” Walsh said. “We have gotten that big hit all season. Today, we put ourselves in a hole and couldn’t battle back enough.”

The Big Macs scored its first seven runs with two outs before Brandon Kline advanced to third on a wild pitch then scored on a passed ball in the sixth inning to put C-M ahead 8-5.

“It’s huge to give (our pitchers) confidence with those insurance runs so they can pitch confidently,” Flaherty said. “Sometimes we have gotten into ruts where we aren’t as energetic as a team. When we bring a lot of passion and energy to the game, we come alive in the box.”

Without having their ace pitchers available, pitching became a commodity neither could effectively find. While the teams combined for a pedestrian 11 hits, they also combined to draw 15 walks. Six of the eight runs scored by the Big Macs reached base via a free pass.

It was the first time in over a month Central Catholic had lost, and the first time in nearly a month the Big Macs have scored at least eight runs in a game against a 6A opponent.

“(Going to the WPIAL championship game) means the world to me,” Gregory said. “I love this game. I love this team. We were going to eventually push through.”