Wyoming Valley West baseball going for gold after PIAA semifinal victory

PINE GROVE — Ten minutes before the diamond turned into Harveys Lake, there was a celebration there.

Wyoming Valley West saved one of its top performances of the season for one of its toughest opponents. And now the Spartans are one win away from history.

There was another complete-game victory on the mound from Billy Gregory. A first varsity home run for sophomore Justin Vought. A perfectly executed safety squeeze by Eric Raitter for an insurance run.

And a 5-1 Valley West win over Parkland in the PIAA Class 4A semifinals.

“I never doubted it and the kids never doubted it,” Spartans coach John Milius said. “They know they worked hard. We’ve been working hard since August with the fall league and then conditioning.”

The Spartans’ victory over the powerful District 11 champion Trojans wrapped up just moments before the heavy storms that crushed most of the state Monday drenched Stump Stadium in Pine Grove.

Shortly before noon, the game had been moved up an hour to 3 p.m., a decision that allowed them to get the entire contest in.

Just another bit of good fortune for a Spartans team that will go for its first baseball state championship at 5:30 p.m. Friday at Penn State’s Medlar Field. They will take on the winner of today’s North Penn-Shaler game, which was postponed.

That’s an advantage for Valley West, which will have its entire pitching staff eligible for Friday’s finals. Their opponent very likely won’t have their semifinal starter available because of PIAA pitch limits.

Valley West is the first Wyoming Valley Conference baseball program to reach multiple PIAA title games. The Spartans lost in the 3A finals in 1996 and the 2008 Berwick team is the only WVC squad to win the crown.

With a 12-game winning streak headed into Friday’s finals, the Spartans have plenty of confidence they can add their names to the list.

That feeling spiked in the third inning Monday when Vought came up with two outs following a double by Ryan Hogan (2 for 3).

Vought connected on a 2-2 pitch, cranking it over the fence in left field for a two-run shot, stunning a stingy Parkland team that was allowing just 1.2 runs per game this season. The Trojans had lost just once all season and had only given up more than three runs once in those previous 28 games.

“At 2-2, I’m just looking for a curveball away, but he hung a curveball and I just put a good swing on it,” Vought said. “You’re not trying to go up there and hit a home run, but that’s what a good swing is.”

“First home run all year. Little slump early on in the year, but I came back hitting the ball in practice, so it was good to get that first one out of the way.”

And how.

The long ball made it 3-0, building on an RBI double from Tyler Yankosky (2-for-3) in the second.

“Oh, it was huge,” Milius said. “Huge, huge, huge. The sophomore’s coming on. That’s all you can say.”

As usual, Gregory was comfortable on the mound, at one point retiring 11 straight Parkland batters after allowing a first-inning single.

“He’s a gamer,” Milius said. “He wants the ball. You’ve gotta love that kind of guy. He gives you what he has, no matter what he has. He doesn’t hold back.”

But a little insurance never hurt. The Spartans got it in the fifth when they loaded the bases with one out and Raitter coming up to bat.

Milius called for a squeeze play, with Hogan waiting for contact to take off from third for the plate.

“They played back. They were looking for a ground ball to turn a double play,” Milius said. “We took advantage of it.

“I tried it twice this year and both times we fouled it off. But this was the ideal situation and we executed it.”

Mark Baron added on right afterward with a fielder’s choice grounder that drove in Vought to make it 5-0.

Gregory hit a rocky patch in the seventh, one out away from clinching the win. An RBI single brought home the first earned run against him in 25 postseason innings (4-0, 0.28 ERA) and put the tying run on deck.

“I was starting to lose a little bit,” Gregory said. “I was getting tired. I really was. It’s the first time in a long time I actually felt tired. Not with my arm, but the heat got to me a little bit.”

“I just beared down and said let the defense pick you up. Just get a ground ball.”

That’s exactly what happened. A grounder to Mark Popson at second went for the final out to set up the biggest game in team history.

PIAA Class 4A semifinals

Valley West 5, Parkland 1

Parkland`AB`R`H`BI

Strisovsky rf`4`0`1`1

Afflerbach 3b`3`0`1`0

Rabasco ss`3`0`1`0

Bruno 2b`3`0`0`0

McAndrew 1b`3`0`1`0

Higgins p`0`0`0`0

Zaccaro c`0`0`0`0

Mueller dh`3`0`0`0

Jacoby p-1b`2`0`0`0

Wadsworth lf`2`0`0`0

Rabenold ph`1`1`1`0

Roth cf`2`0`0`0

Totals`26`1`5`1

Valley West`AB`R`H`BI

Montalvo cf`4`0`0`0

Lupole ss`4`0`0`0

Hogan c`3`2`2`0

Popson 2b`0`0`0`0

Vought dh`2`2`1`2

Gregory p`3`1`1`0

Raitter rf`2`0`1`1

Baron lf`3`0`0`1

Yankosky 1b`3`0`2`1

Zavada 3b`2`0`0`0

Totals`26`5`7`5

Parkland`000`000`1`—`1

Valley West`012`020`x`—`5

— Yankosky, Hogan; — Vought

Parkland`IP`H`R`ER`BB`K

Jacoby (L)`5.0`7`5`4`0`2

Higgins`1.0`0`0`0`0`2

Valley West`IP`H`R`ER`BB`K

Gregory (W)`7.0`5`1`1`2`4