Jun 7, 2021 5 min read

SLIPPERY ROCK – The McGuffey High School baseball team’s long and winding road through the postseason ran into a dead end Monday afternoon, the result of a lack of hitting and one poor half-inning.

Hickory’s Nick Osborne overcame a rocky top of the first inning and rebounded for a complete-game two-hitter as the Hornets edged McGuffey 4-2 in the first round of the PIAA Class 3A playoffs at Slippery Rock University’s Jack Critchfield Park.

Hickory (18-4), the District 10 champion, advances to the state quarterfinals Thursday while the most successful season in McGuffey history draws to a close with a 15-6 record and lot of good memories that will last a lifetime for the Highlanders’ players and coaches.

The game was the first state tournament contest in McGuffey baseball history, and it couldn’t have started better for the Highlanders as they scored two runs in the top of the first inning.

The good times, however, didn’t last long. Hickory bounced back with three runs in the bottom of the inning – one on a controversial balk – and tacked on another tally in the second.

The rest of the game was a pitchers’ duel and the Highlanders couldn’t generate enough offense to fuel a comeback.

“They are a good team,” McGuffey coach George Linck said of Hickory. “Their pitcher had command of the strike zone. We weren’t able to hit as successfully as in the past games.”

“I told the kids they have a lot to be proud of. No McGuffey team has done this before and not a lot of people thought we were capable of doing this. We played together, we worked hard and we got better.”

The Highlanders started fast in this one. Leadoff hitter Brock Wallace was hit by a 2-2 pitch to begin the game. After Austin Beattie bounced into a fielder’s choice, Jake Orr walked. Following a popout, Austin Hall reached on an error that loaded the bases. Catcher Logan Seibert followed with a perfectly placed single to left field to score Beattie and Orr, and when the ball was misplayed in the outfield, Hall ended up at third base and Seibert at second.

Kyle Brookman was then hit by a pitch and McGuffey had the bases loaded again, still with two outs. Osborne, who labored through 34 pitches in the inning, worked out of the jam by getting an inning-ending strikeout.

“You tell yourself before a game whether you’re going to play for one run or play for a big inning,” Linck said. I was hoping we would get a couple more in the first inning, but I was happy to get two.”

In three WPIAL playoff games, two runs were enough for McGuffey pitching, but Hickory is a scrappy team that is aggressive on the basepaths.

Orr, McGuffey’s starting pitcher, gave up a one-out single in the first to Luca Bertolasio, who stole second base and moved to third on an infield single by Clay Wiesen, who also stole second. Joey Fazzone then hit a shot into the gap in right centerfield that bounced before McGuffey outfielder Luke Wagner knocked it down before it rolled to the wall. Bertolasio and Wiesen scored on the play and Fazzone ended up on third base.

With Fazzone faking a break for home plate, Orr was called for a balk by the third-base umpire, allowing Hickory to take a 3-2 lead.

The balk call drew a long discussion between Linck and the umpires.

“They said Jake was in the hybrid pitching position and his feet were not parallel,” Linck explained. “That rattled us. It scored a run and had an effect.”

Orr seemed rattled by the call as he walked two of the next three batters he faced, the only walks he allowed over 5 2/3 innings.

In the second, Hickory made it 4-2 as Matt Jordan, the No. 9 hitter in the lineup, reached on an infield single, stole second, advanced on a wild pitch and scored when Bertolasio grounded out.

The remainder of the game was good pitching and defense. Beattie, the Highlanders’ shortstop, made several spectacular plays.

Orr led off the sixth with a double down the left-field line to give the Highlanders some life. It snapped a string of 13 consecutive McGuffey hitters that were retired by Osborne, who struck out only five. Orr moved to third base on a fly ball by Wagner, but Hickory third baseman Connor Evans made a diving stop to rob Hall of a hit and keep Orr at third base. The threat ended with a popout.

“We couldn’t get the key hit when we needed,” Linck said. “We left a lot of runners on base all year, but this time it haunted us. We couldn’t lay off the pitcher’s slider. He pitched backward all day and threw a lot of sliders.”