Riverside jumps on Fairview early, rolls to 9-3 win to reach PIAA Class 3A semis
SLIPPERY ROCK — After a couple of close, come-from-behind wins, the Riverside High School baseball team decided to flip the script against Fairview in the PIAA Class 3A quarterfinals at Slippery Rock University’s Jack Critchfield Park.
The first four batters in the Riverside lineup – Evan Burry, Ashton Schlosser, Bo Fornataro, and Hunter Garvin – all reached base and scored to stake sophomore hurler Christian Lucarelli to a 4-0 lead. The Panthers rolled to a 9-3 win to advance to the semifinals Monday against the Punxsutawney/Phillipsburg-Osceola winner at a site and time to be determined.
“We haven’t done four runs in an inning in a while,” said right fielder Schlosser, whose single to left field scored Burry and gave the Panthers a lead they would not relinquish.
“We’ve had our toes to the fire for a while and now and we just kept fighting. It was definitely different playing at noon but we just kept going at it.”
After Schlosser’s single, he scored on Hunter Garvin’s double and Fornataro and Garvin then scored on sacrifice flies by Mitch Garvin and Drake Fox, respectively.
Lucarelli made the lead stand up, allowing just a single unearned run and striking out 11 in just five innings.
“I definitely struggled the first two innings but I overcame that,” said Lucarelli, a Duke commit who, coincidentally, wears a Carolina blue glove. “I got the glove before I made the commitment.
“I knew my pitch count was going to be higher this game.”
As his day ended after five because of the pitch count, the Panthers had a 5-1 lead thanks to Hunter Garvin scoring an unearned run on the front end of a double steal.
The game was well in hand, though, before Garvin came on in relief. Before he struck out the side in the top of the sixth, the Panthers put another four runs on the board in the bottom of the fifth.
Schlosser led off with a single, Fornataro walked, and Fairview starter Vinny Campoli was relieved by Aari Fox. Hunter walked Hunter Garvin and Mitch Garvin then brought home Schlosser with a sacrifice fly.
Drake Fox then hit a two-run double off Aari Fox to score two and Darren McDade singled home Fox for a 9-1 lead.
Two Fairview runs in the top of the seventh changed the score but the outcome was never threatened as Riverside improved to 23-0 on the season.
“We were able to put them away quick,” said head coach Dan Oliastro, in his 55th season. “But we use the same attitude every game.
“If you let a team stay close, they can find a way and we found that way this time. Christian fought with the strike zone a little but Hunter (6th) and Drake (Fox in the 7th) came up big.”
In all, the three Riverside hurlers struck out 16 in seven innings. At the plate, Riverside pounded out nine hits as Schlosser, Burry, and Hunter Garvin each had two. Hunter scored three runs while Schlosser and Fornataro both scored twice. Mitch Garvin and Fox both drove in two.
This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Riverside jumps on Fairview early, rolls to 9-3 win to reach PIAA Class 3A semis
