Eagles’ revenge tour continues

The Eagles will face Seton LaSalle, who beat them in last year’s title matchup 8-1.

For the third straight season, Serra Catholic will make the trip to Wild Things Park for a chance at the WPIAL Championship after a 5-1 victory over Burgettstown at West Mifflin on Tuesday.

The one-seeded Eagles (17-2) will look to win the Class 2A crown against No. 3 Seton LaSalle at a time and date to be determined. They’ll hope to flip their 8-1 loss from last year and make it more like their 8-2 win over Neshannock to win the 2022 district championship.

“It’s certainly exciting making it, but we want to win,” Serra Catholic skipper Brian Dzurenda said. “We want to take the preparation this week to another level, because our swings need to improve. We’re not being the consistent hard out that we practice to be. But the pitching has been outstanding the last two days.”

A day after Tyler Skaggs starred on the mound for Serra, Owen Dumbroski picked up the win over the Blue Devils (12-4-1) with a stellar performance. He allowed five hits and one run over seven innings, with two of those hits and the one run coming in the final inning of the game. Dumbroski fanned three batters in the victory.

Perhaps more importantly, he issued just one walk. The Eagles have made a point of limiting mistakes in postseason ball, and through two games they’ve stuck to it.

“Through 14 innings, we’ve had one walk,” Dzurenda said. “That’s perfect. We don’t want to give them anything for free. ‘Make them earn it’ has been one of our mantras for the last 10 years, and we always say that they can’t do it. It’s when we give them free stuff that we lose games.”

Burgettstown did give Serra Catholic some free stuff, as starting pitcher Matt Bredel allowed five runs but only two earned. Bredel was charged with the loss after hitting the 105-pitch limit in 5 2/3 innings, allowing four hits and walking four while striking out three.

Both squads had five hits a piece as Serra Catholic’s Collin Holmes and Skaggs were the only players to manage two hits. Collin Holmes had two RBIs while Jake Holmes and Bodi Rieger each knocked one run in. For Burgettstown, the majority of their offense came in the final frame with two consecutive doubles from Brodie Kuzior and Sam Elich.

After Dumbroski got three quick outs, he and Isiah Petty drew walks and pulled off a double steal to set up Zach Black with runners on second and third with no outs.

His at-bat finished with another walk, setting up Jake Holmes with bases loaded, but he chopped one to short. His fielder’s choice resulted in an out at second, but he hustled to prevent the double play and earned an RBI for his effort.

Collin Holmes stepped up next with runners on the corners, but courtesy runner DJ Deliman took second base without a throw to put two in scoring position. With a full count, Collin Holmes laced a two-run single past shortstop Riley Kennedy to score Dumbroski and Deliman. That capped off the first inning at 3-0 in favor of the Eagles.

The Blue Devils came right back with runners on first and second with one down, but Carson Tkalcevic hit a hard ball to third base that allowed Collin Holmes to step on third and throw to first for a double play to retire the side.

Bredel settled in after giving up three runs, allowing just one baserunner on a walk over the second and third frames. Dumbroski was similarly stingy in the third, fourth and fifth as the Blue Devils went down 1-2-3 over that three-inning stretch.

The Eagles got two base knocks in the bottom of the fourth from Collin Holmes and Skaggs before Carmen Chiaverini reached on an error.

With the bases loaded and one out, Rieger stepped up to the plate and hit a ball to short. Burgettstown got the out at second, but the throw to first couldn’t be corralled as it allowed another Serra Catholic runner to score and make the score 5-0 after four.

Pinch hitter Jayden Roach led the top of the sixth off with the first hit for the Blue Devils since the second inning, but Dumbroski proceeded to get two outs before he went to shortstop Zach Black at second base to pickoff Roach and keep Burgettstown scoreless after six.

That changed in the seventh when the Blue Devils managed their first two extra-base hits of the contest.

Kuzior and Elich made Petty busy at center field, with back-to-back doubles giving the Blue Devils their only run of the contest before Dumbroski struck out a batter, picked off Elich at second and forced a groundout to earn another trip to Wild Things Park, checking another box in terms of their season and program goals.

“I’m most excited because we just qualified for the state tournament,” Dzurenda said. “We get to play in June. That’s exciting stuff, and that’s what we live for as coaches.”

North Catholic 12, Thomas Jefferson 4

North Catholic booked a ticket to the Class 4A championship with an emphatic win over Thomas Jefferson.

The Trojans (15-4) put up 11 runs in the first three innings and one more in the top of the seventh as they finished with 16 hits. Ryan Shantz (4), Thomas Koroly (3), Thomas Schafale (2), Blake Primrose (2) and Owen Beatrice (2) all had multiple hits for North Catholic as Primrose knocked in three runs.

Dom Metz was charged with the loss for the Jaguars after allowing 10 hits and five runs in 4 2/3 innings. Alec Warden hit a three-run dinger in the bottom of the fifth for Thomas Jefferson while Noah Kaszer had two more hits. Carter Kirsch also added an RBI.

The Jaguars will now take on No. 4 Montour to determine their seeding in the state tournament, which will start June 3.