Rockets rally late to edge Avella, 3-2
Rob Burchianti | TikTokłÉČË°ć
Rob Burchianti | TikTokłÉČË°ć
Jefferson-Morgan’s Collin Bisceglia touches home plate for the winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning as Avella catcher Brian Humensky looks on during Friday’s game at Jefferson-Morgan. Bisceglia scored on Brock Bayles’ single to give the Rockets a 3-2 win.
Rob Burchianti | TikTokłÉČË°ć
Rob Burchianti | TikTokłÉČË°ć
Jefferson-Morgan’s Owen Maddich pitches against Avella during Friday’s game at Jefferson-Morgan. Maddich pitched 4 1/3 scoreless innings in relief to earn the win as the Rockets defeated the Eagles, 3-2, in eight innings.
Jefferson-Morgan’s Brock Bayles slaps a single into right field to bring in Collin Bisceglia (on third base) with the winning run against Avella in the bottom of the eighth inning of Friday’s game at Jefferson-Morgan. (Photo by Rob Burchianti)
Rob Burchianti | TikTokłÉČË°ć
Jefferson-Morgan coach John Curtis flashes signals during Friday’s game against Avella at Jefferson-Morgan. Curtis is in his 37th year as coach of the Rockets.
Rob Burchianti | TikTokłÉČË°ć
Jefferson-Morgan pitcher Owen Maddich keeps an eye on Avella’s Colton Burchianti leading off second base as Ayden Pratt holds the runner during Friday’s game at Jefferson-Morgan. Umpire John Cherup and Rockets center fielder Bryce Bedilion look on.
JEFFERSON — For two teams that hadn’t played a varsity baseball game since 2019, Jefferson-Morgan and Avella put on a pretty good show Friday.
With a minimal amount of walks and errors — two things that usually plagued opening-day contests — the host Rockets rallied from a 2-0 deficit with single runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings to pull out a 3-2 walk-off victory in the non-section match-up.
“It’s just good to be playing baseball again,” said Jefferson-Morgan coach John Curtis, who is entering his 37th year guiding J-M. “For the second time,” Curtis added with a chuckle, noting this would’ve been his 38th season were it not for the COVID-19 pandemic wiping out the 2020 campaign.
“The way they came back, this was a good character builder. I think they were a little frustrated earlier in the game but they didn’t give up.”
The Rockets were led on the mound by seniors Bryce Bedilion and Owen Maddich, with the latter picking up the win in relief, but it was three underclassmen that combined to push across the game-winning run.
Freshman Collin Bisceglia led off the bottom of the eighth for J-M with a walk against Blaze Allen, the Eagles’ third pitcher of the game. Bisceglia stole second then advanced to third on sophomore Troy Wright’s well executed sacrifice bunt. Freshman Brock Bayles then slapped a single through the right side to bring in Bisceglia with the winning run.
“I like that from the younger guys,” Curtis said. “We work a lot on situations. It just shows that practice has been paying off.”
Bedilion started on the mound for the Rockets and allowed two runs on five hits with one walk and three strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings.
Bedilion worked out of a first-inning jam, getting three straight outs after allowing singles to Isaiah Bradick and Gavin Frank.
The game was scoreless until the top of the fourth when Avella parlayed singles by Ty Jaworski and Brian Humensky, a walk by Camden Georgetti and an error into two runs.
Maddich relieved Bedilion with one out in the frame and tossed the final 4 1/3 innings, allowing no runs on three hits and three walks with five strikeouts.
“Our pitchers both threw pretty well,” Curtis said. “They had a lot of first-pitch strikes to get ahead of the hitter. We’ve got (Easton) Hanko and (Kyle) Clayton and a couple other guys who will also pitch for us but the two we put out on the mound today did OK.”
Meanwhile, Eagles starting pitcher Camden Georgetti kept the Rockets off the board for the first five innings.
“That was his first high school start,” Avella coach Jason Fogg pointed out. “He didn’t pitch much as a freshman and then COVID took away last year. Five innings of shutout baseball, I couldn’t ask for more.”
Jefferson-Morgan finally got on the board in the sixth after Bradick relieved Georgetti as Hanko doubled, took second on a passed ball and scored on a balk to make it 2-1.
The Rockets tied it in the bottom of the seventh when Clayton walked, stole second, went to third on Ayden Pratt’s ground out and scored on Bedilion’s sacrifice fly to center. Bedilion reached third on the play after the umpires ruled the ball was not caught cleanly but Bradick got the next two outs to send the game into extra innings.
That set the stage for J-M’s winning rally.
“It was well played by both teams,” Fogg said. “Anytime you have a 3-2 ballgame, especially in Class-A baseball, that’s a good game, especially in extra innings.
“I think we played better the first half of the game. We didn’t play a full seven innings. They came on in the later stages, pushed a few runs across and we couldn’t hold them off.”
The Eagles limited J-M to five hits, including two singles by Pratt.
“We’ve got to hit a little better,” Curtis said. “I wasn’t real happy with that part of our game. It might have been an opening-day thing. They were anxious, and off a little bit with their timing.
“We didn’t have a lot of good at bats as far as working the count. We try to be a little better at that with the pitch count nowadays to run it up on whoever’s out there. We expect to hit a lot better than what we did. I think it’ll come.”
Jefferson-Morgan is again in Section 2-A this season along with Bishop Canevin, Greensburg Central Catholic, Mapletown, Monessen and West Greene.
Avella is part of Section 1-A with Cornell, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, Rochester, Union and Western Beaver.
“I’m very encouraged for the upcoming year even though we’re in a tough section,” Fogg said. “I wish we were back down in Greene County where we have some rivalries but we’re up north so we’ll be doing a lot of traveling.
“I’m cautiously optimistic. I’d have liked us to finish this game like we started it but we’ve got a young team with a lot of freshmen and a lot of sophomores. I think the future bodes well. We’ve just got to try to keep getting better every day.”