'Been so long': Central Cambria scorches River Valley in District 6-3A baseball playoff opener
EBENSBURG, Pa. – Sirens from a Dauntless Fire Co. fire engine blared shortly after Brayden Blasko’s sacrifice fly plated Logan Black with the game-ending run in Central Cambria’s 10-0 victory over River Valley Friday at the Red Devilplex.
The triumph in the first round of the District 6 Class 3A baseball tournament was cause for celebration seeing that the program hadn’t hosted a District 6 playoff game in “over two decades” per public address. Central Cambria’s home success drought in the postseason before Friday stretched beyond that estimate, according to Red Devils coach Dan Beyer.
“It’s been so long that we couldn’t even find a record of the last home (playoff) game that we had at the school, minus the last home win,” Beyer said. “We had some amazing teams in the ’90s and in the mid-80s with one of my coaches Craig Swineford and Mike Holtz and some former major-leaguers, but it’s been since that date in the late-80s, early-90s that we for sure won a (playoff) game at the school.”
Beyer also pointed out that the efforts in making Friday special were not exclusive to those in the third-base dugout during a contest that was halted for five minutes in the bottom of the fourth thanks to a sudden heavy rain.
“It was an amazing community effort,” Beyer said. “We had the fire trucks here. We had the police department here. Everybody came out in a monsoon. It was really a special moment for this school. We were in dire need in baseball to have something like that happen in front of the community. We appreciate the community and hope that they come back whenever we keep on moving forward to (top-seeded Forest Hills) on Thursday.”
Through five innings, Central Cambria left-handed starting pitcher Owen Harringer held the Panthers at bay, allowing just a two-out single to Chase Stuchal and a pair of free passes – one base on balls and one hit batsman – while striking out five.
Harringer, who faced 18 batters in his five innings on the mound, started 12 at-bats with strikes. The junior cited a basic approach in facing Panthers batters.
“Just get it in there and throw strikes,” Harringer said.
His teammates picked him up with an eight-run eruption in the third inning, highlighted by two-RBI singles from both Blake Corosky and Jacob Russell, and a two-out, two-run triple from Grady Snyder.
That outburst gave Harringer a cushion for error that he didn’t need during the occasionally rainy evening under the lights.
“It feels good to have a great lead,” Harringer said. “It helps you relax a bit.”
The Central Cambria third inning, which saw 12 batters step in against three River Valley pitchers – starter Gavin Steeves, and relievers Niko Vadala and Hunter Riggle – also gave Beyer a bit of alleviation as the Red Devils gave their ace run support that hadn’t been as prevalent in other appearances this season.
“Owen has been a tough-luck pitcher on occasion this year where he wouldn’t give him a run,” Beyer said. “We’d have to pull him because of a pitch count. The Laurel Highlands (Athletic Conference) is a tough conference. Whenever you’re facing Nate Whysong from Chestnut Ridge, who is going to Wake Forest, a pitcher like Owen, you need him. It was a great feeling for him and a sigh of relief with him putting up zeroes and the team exploding, having focused at-bats and everybody fed off the other one.”
Snyder’s triple – his fifth of the campaign – established a program record for three- baggers in a season, snapping a tie with Zachary Taylor.
Central Cambria tallied single runs in the fifth and sixth innings with Jack Washko tripling and scoring on a Connor Serenko double an inning before Blasko’s sacrifice fly cut the game an inning short.
Corosky and Serenko each had two hits for Central Cambria, which posted 10 as a team.
Shawn Curtis is a reporter for The Tribune-Democrat. He can be reached at 814-532-5085. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnCurtis430.
