Prep Baseball Report

PBR Spotlight Games from June 4th (Pullman Park)



Pullman Park in Butler hosted three first round PIAA playoff games yesterday with winners advancing to the round of eight in the state tournament.  All winners will play again on Thursday for the right to get to the state semi-finals on Monday, June 11th.  The Pennsylvania State Championship games will be contested on Friday, June 15th at Medlar Field on the campus of Penn State University.

North Star 2,  No. 20 Ellwood City 0
Christian Kerns and Brantley Rice locked up in a pitcher's dual with both going the distance for their respective teams. Kerns was impressive early touching 86MPH and striking out the side in the first inning. North Star was held hitless until right fielder Dalton Rice singled in the sixth inning. Brantley Rice did his part as well holding Ellwood City to just three hits on the afternoon. Rice mixed an assortment of pitches to keep Ellwood City hitters off balance while walking just one.

Christian Kerns

The teams went to the 7th inning in a scoreless tie, but Brantley Rice was able to get things started with a single for North Star. Center fielder, Tony Strasiser, then reached base when he was hit by a pitch as he attempted to sacrifice bunt. Following a sacrifice bunt and an intentional walk to load the bases, North Star pushed across a run with a sacrifice fly by Zack Moludwick, which scored Brantley Rice with what turned out to be the game winner. North Star tacked on an additional run on an Ellwood City error with two outs.

Rice set Ellwood City down in order in the bottom of the 7th inning to finish off the first round victory.  With the win North Star moves on to play No. 23 Saegertown on Thursday in the PIAA AA quarterfinals.

No. 24 Neshannock 2,  Bishop Guifoyle 0
The second game of the day mirrored the first, with two quality pitchers going toe to toe. Neshannock did all of its scoring in the first inning and was able to ride the outstanding pitching of Alex Strittmatter to victory. Strittmatter mixed a sharp breaking curve ball and excellent control to keep Bishop Guilfoyle off the scoreboard. Jextin Pugh was the hard luck loser for Bishop Guilfoyle. Pugh, the No. 1 ranked player in the Class of 2013, touched 89MPH several times early in the game and sat 86-87 for much of the final six innings, while only allowing two hits. Pugh was hurt by a walk, a hit batter and a throwing error in the first inning when Neshannock was able to score its only two runs.

Jextin Pugh

Altoona 9,  No. 4 Seneca Valley 4
In a day of impressive pitching performances, the best was saved for last. Ole Miss recruit Christian Helsel limited Seneca Valley to four runs and displayed his all around abilities to lead Altoona to the next round.  Helsel, the No. 10 ranked player in the Class of 2012, went 3-for-4 at the plate, with two doubles and two RBI. What was more impressive was his performance on the mound. Helsel touched 89MPH several times during the course of the game and was still sitting at 87-88 in the 7th inning. He also utilized a power slider that he consistently threw at 77-79MPH.

Christian Helsel

Seneca Valley was led by Austin Bream, the son of former MLB player Sid Bream. The Liberty University recruit went 3-for-4 in a losing effort.

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