Roaring Lions capture CCAC baseball title
Persistence pays off, and in the process helped write some sports history for Penn State-Fayette, The Eberly Campus, which has the trophies to prove it. When the Commonwealth Campus Athletic Conference baseball season got under way a couple months ago, Fayette had two objectives in mind – winning the Western Conference championship, and then winning the state title.
The Lions accomplished both goals, beating Beaver Campus, 6-2, in the Western Finals to win the conference (11-1), then nailed the Penn State-Delaware County Campus two straight in the best-of-three finals for the state championship.
Fayette won the opener, 6-2, on a five-hitter by Josh Null (Albert Gallatin), and clinched with a 4-3 win on Brian Dunn’s (California) two-hitter.
Coach Joe Gessner said, “This was the first chance we ever had to win the state title, and this team made the most of that opportunity. In the two clinching games, our pitchers did not allow an extra-base hit.
“Null allowed five singles and only one earned run while striking out 11. Dunn gave up just two singles, struck out four, and none of the runs against him were earned. We played good defense in the opening game, but we got away to a poor start in the field in game two, making three errors in the first two innings. But after that the defense was great.”
Along with winning the school’s first state championship, the Lions added another historical note in the process.
Gessner said, “This was the first time that a team other than the Beaver Campus had represented the West in the state finals. They had won the West title for 17 consecutive years. So, when the season started, our first goal was to replace Beaver as Western representative, then win the state title.”
Overall, the Lions finished 20-11, of which Gessner noted, “We (coaches) told the players that we wanted to win as many games as we could, but that the real emphasis was going to be on winning our conference games.”
Another pleasing note to the veteran coach is that his team is, in one sense, “home-grown.” Every player lives within a 35-mile radius of the Campus.
Assistant coaches included Ray Smitley, who in the spring coaches Frazier High; John Curtis, who built winning teams at Jefferson-Morgan, and Joe LaPresta, long time aide and head coach at Uniontown and Laurel Highlands.
Gessner called them “all good baseball teachers.”
Five members of the championship team will be graduating, P-OF Matt Fanase (Jefferson-Morgan), P-OF-DH Ryan Gondek (Laurel Highlands), P-IF Phil Gratchic (Geibel Catholic), OF-DH Sam Petko (Brownsville) and IF Mark Shallenberger (California).
Players returning to defend their state honors include: P-1B Justin Coffman (Connellsville), C-P Justin Corso (Mapletown), 1B-P Brian Dunn (California), IF-P Earl Gilbert (Geibel), OF-P Josh Guittap and 3B Paul Metz (Laurel Highlands), OF-C-P Ryan Guthrie (Uniontown), 2B Jamie Kowalczyk and P-OF-3B Andy Mazur (Carmichaels), P-1B Josh Null (Albert Gallatin), P-IF John Pochran (Jefferson-Morgan), and OF-P Corey Watkins (Brownsville).
Statistically, the Lions batted .296 as a team, with 199 runs and 265 hits, including 59 doubles, 16 triples, and six home runs, 55 stolen bases and 141 walks.
Individually, the leading batters were Watkins, 78-32-.410; Fanase, 57-21-.368; Gratchic, 106-38-.358; Kowalczyk, 103-33-.320; and Corso, 51-16-.314.
Kowalczyk led the team in runs scored (29), triples (5), and stolen bases (18); Gratchic batted in 21 runs; Guthrie hit 11 doubles; and Gondek had two homers.
Null was the team’s top pitcher (4-3). His stats included: strikeouts (64), runs allowed (42), earned runs (32), walks-hit batsmen (27), and shared innings worked with Dunn (50.33). Dunn and Gratchic were 3-2, Fanase 2-2, Coffman and Corso 2-0, and Mazer and Gondek 1-1.
On the way to the championship, Gessner said he reminded his players “to just try and relax, enjoy playing. They worked very well together as a unit. If one or two players had a bad day, the others picked us up. They became a good, strong unit.”
Another pleasing note to the coach was “having seven players with double figures in both runs scored and runs batted in. This team could not only score runs, they could bat in the others who also got on base. A unique point was they didn’t strike out a lot (144 season), and their stats were pretty evenly spread out.”
Those “double” players (runs scored and RBIs) included Kowalczyk 29-14, Gratchic 18-21, Gondek 17-15, Guthrie 20-19, Metz 21-19, Watkins 23-19 and Fanase 22-18.
Looking back, Gessner said, “A key point was our first game at Beaver, about halfway through the season. We knew going in that we controlled our future, and this game would pretty much determine who would get first place and the No. 1 seed in the West. We won, with Null pitching, and that pretty much set the tone for us.
“I think that this game, more than any one other, might have been the determining factor in showing this team that they could accomplish their objective. It was a great experience for all of us. The players are proud of what they accomplished and I’m proud of them for doing it.”
And the Roaring Lions wrote some Fayette Campus baseball history in the process.