Mikes’ PIAA playoff ride derailed by Crushers, 7-3
CALIFORNIA – Teams with 10-9 records don’t garner much respect. But ask Bishop McCort coach John DeFazio about an 11-9 team.
Better yet, ask Carmichaels coach Dave Bates.
Bishop McCort walked into George H. Roadman Park Monday with a ho-hum record, but walked out one step closer to a state title after turning away the WPIAL champion Mikes, 7-3, in a first-round PIAA Class A playoff game.
The District 6 runners-up looked more like a team that had just won a championship at PNC Park than a squad struggling to keep its head above .500. The Crushers used a dominant performance by left-hander Dave Wagner, and a 13-hit attack against Carmichaels’ ace Jared Lapkowicz to send the Mikes to only their second loss in 21 games.
Bishop McCort scored all seven of its runs with two outs.
“We’ve been telling our kids all week not to get intimidated by their (Carmichaels) record,” DeFazio said. “We knew we play in a tough conference back home. We’re a Class A school, but we play all AA and AAA teams.
“We (coaches) felt we could hold our own against anybody. It was just a matter of the team believing it. I think after that first inning, when we put four runs up with two outs and nobody on, we started believing it. It shows a lot of character. These kids are now starting to battle. Their record is misleading. I know we came in here 10-9, but we played some good competition.”
Wagner, a full-scholarship University of Pittsburgh recruit, allowed only three hits, while striking out nine. He struck out the first five batters he faced and retired the Mikes in order five times.
“He throws hard; he has a great curve ball,” Bates said. “Dave Wagner is a super ballplayer. He’s a very heady pitcher. You don’t realize some of the spots he pitched out of. He worked his counts extremely well today; location-wise, probably as good as any kid we’ve seen this year.”
Lapkowicz, who suffered his first loss this season to go with nine wins, was pitching on three days rest. He allowed only two hits while facing just 16 batters last Thursday in the WPIAL title game against Canevin, but was touched for all 13 hits and seven runs in 5 2/3 innings Monday.
“Jared didn’t have his full rest,” Bates said. “He only rested three days and we knew that. We weren’t expecting to go the whole game with him, but his pitch count was well-managed and he didn’t throw too little, he didn’t throw too much (last week).
“We got into a couple situations where there were two outs in the inning and there was no reason to pull a kid who was having good stuff. A couple of flares, and all of a sudden they hit two more flares. It’s not something where I’d immediately hit the panic button and pull him. He had good stuff and we rode it. Unfortunately we rode it a little too long. That’s my fault being the coach.
“I’m an odds maker. I get paid to be an odds maker. When we came into this game, I knew we averaged 8-10 runs a game and I’m not worried about a couple hits here and there. We ran into a real good pitcher. He held us down today and we didn’t break out until the end of the ball game. I never second-guess myself. I have two coaches who I look at for a lot of things and I make the decisions. That’s what I get paid for. So this one’s on me. Maybe we put Colby (Giles) in, maybe we get a different story. But I doubt it.”
It may not have mattered who pitched for Carmichaels because of Wagner’s brilliance. He ran into trouble only twice, once in the third inning when he escaped a two-on, two-out jam, and again in the fifth inning when a mishandled suicide squeeze led to three Carmichaels’ runs.
With two outs in the top of the first inning, the Crushers strung together six consecutive singles to take a 4-0 lead. That advantage held up until the bottom of the fifth inning, when Carmichaels sent eight hitters to the plate.
Andy Mazur led off with a double over the head of center fielder Adam Leech, and Jamie Kowalczyk walked on four pitches. With the count 2-0 on Kowalczyk, Wagner began limping on his right leg, prompting a visit from DeFazio.
“Last year as a junior in basketball, he tore his ACL,” DeFazio said. “He had surgery and missed all of last baseball season. That knee he had surgery on, he said he felt like it had buckled a little bit in the fifth inning. But he gutted it out. He pitched a magnificent ball game.”
Donny Hewitt, the No. 8 Carmichaels’ hitter, sacrificed both runners ahead, then designated hitter Niko Buday dropped a suicide squeeze bunt down the first-base line, which was fielded by first baseman Ryan Altimore but then thrown wildly past the bag, allowing Mazur and Kowalczyk to score.
After Giles grounded out to third base, Jono Menhart drew a walk, before Shayne Busti dropped a hit into right field to score Buday and pull the Mikes to within 4-3.
But as quickly as Carmichaels grabbed the game’s momentum, Bishop McCort stole it back with three runs in the top of the sixth inning. Wagner then retired Carmichaels in order in both the sixth and seventh innings.
Carmichaels loses Giles and Menhart to graduation, but return the bulk of a team that has gone 36-6 over the past two seasons.
“I had a really good time this year,” Bates said. I had a bunch of nice kids. We went further than a lot of people thought we were going to. We had fun playing. I feel like I’m a better person for having been around these kids. We’ve taken it up another notch in the pride game at Carmichaels.
“We’ve always had great tradition at Carmichaels, and we’re really proud of the tradition we’ve just added. Our kids are running around right now with their heads down and not wanting to talk much, but they can say ‘We’re WPIAL Champions.’ How many times have we been able to say that in the past? We’re proud of what we’ve done. We just got beat by a good team today.”