McGuffey baseball beats Derry in WPIAL quarters

By: George Guido
Saturday, May 22, 2021 | 8:47 PM

McGuffey’s historic baseball season continued Saturday afternoon in the WPIAL Class 3A quarterfinals.

The Highlanders scored twice in the bottom of the fifth, and that was all Austin Beattie needed as the right-hander blanked Derry, 2-0, at West Mifflin.

After the first two wins in school playoff history the past several days, No. 4 McGuffey (14-4) will be in the semifinals for the first time Tuesday against No. 1-seeded Hopewell at 4:30 on Tuesday at West Mifflin.

With one out in the fifth, Brock Wallace, who plays with a hand towel hanging out of the rear of his belt, singled. Beattie followed with a triple into the right-field corner to score Wallace. Jake Orr followed with a double, and the Highlanders had a pair of runs.

In the seventh with two out and the tying run at the plate, Beattie had 104 pitches and was facing his final batter. Ryan Bushey hit a fly ball to left, and McGuffey had its second postseason victory. Another batter would have forced McGuffey to put in a new pitcher because of PIAA postseason pitch-count rules, limiting a pitcher to 105 pitches in one day.

“I felt good out there. The adrenaline took over there,” Beattie said. “But I have a lot of fun pitching. With the triple, it was timely hitting as the coach always preaches.”

Said Highlanders coach George Linck: “We’re extremely pleased. This is such a hardworking group. We’ve kept our focus all year with great expectations, and it’s really paying off for us right now.”

Derry, coming off its first playoff victory since a 2004 win over Burrell, finished its season 12-5.

The No. 5 Trojans had six hits off Beattie and got seven runners in scoring position but couldn’t come up with the big hit.

“They hit the ball better than us today,” Derry coach John Flickinger said. “We made some plays, defensively, but the big story was their pitcher. He kept us off-balanced all day, he pounded the strike zone and had us thinking too much.”

Trojans glovework and Josh Ulery’s pitching kept the game scoreless for four-plus innings. In the second with bases loaded and one out, Ulery retired Logan Hatfield and Jake Ross on strikeouts.

In the third, McGuffey had runners on second and third with none out. Shortstop Bushey nailed Wallace at the plate on a fielder’s choice. Matt McDowell then made a shoestring catch in center field and threw to second to get Beattie, who strayed too far off second, ending the threat.

“We didn’t hit in timely situations,” Flickinger said. “The biggest thing for us all year, if there’s something negative for us to talk about, is hitting in crucial situations. That’s kind of what happened to us today.”

Derry’s biggest threat came in the sixth after two were out. Ryan Hood slammed a single to left, and Sam Jones followed with a double to put the tying runs in scoring position.

The Trojans last week won their first section title since 1992 and were seeking their first WPIAL title since 1984.

Tags: Derry Area, McGuffey