Breaking down the 2023 WPIAL baseball playoffs

By: Chris Harlan
Friday, May 12, 2023 | 7:04 PM

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Class 6A

Favorite: Pine-Richland tied North Allegheny and Seneca Valley atop the Section 1 standings (all with 8-4 records), but the Rams got the No. 1 seed by winning two out of three games over both rivals. Senior Jacob McGuire leads the Rams as a two-way player with a team-best 21 RBIs and a 2.44 ERA. The Rams have won six WPIAL titles, most recently in 2019.

Challengers: North Allegheny infielder Spencer Barnett, a West Virginia recruit, leads the team with a .431 batting average, 22 runs and 10 extra-base hits. Gardner-Webb recruit Andrew Hart leads in RBIs (16) and has a 1.29 ERA on the mound. The Tigers own a record eight WPIAL titles and seek their second in three years. …Canon-McMillan won the Section 2 title behind senior Austyn Winkleblech, a Pitt recruit who’s 5-1 with a 2.64 ERA. Teammate Andrew Kocan, a VMI football recruit, has 27 RBIs and 11 extra-base hits. …Mt. Lebanon is the defending WPIAL champion. The Blue Devils started this season 0-8 before winning 10 of the next 11. … Seneca Valley pitcher Zach Tkatch (5-0) allowed one run over his last three starts with 19 strikeouts in 20 combined innings.

Don’t overlook: Butler finished fourth in Section 1, but the Tornado entered this season as title contenders. Virginia Tech recruit Madden Clement has a 1.05 ERA and 28 strikeouts in 20 innings.

Prediction: Pine-Richland over North Allegheny

Class 5A

Favorite: Shaler has one of the WPIAL’s top talents in senior Miguel Hugas, a Venezuelan native and Alabama commit who pitches and plays the outfield. But the Titans aren’t a one-man team. Along with winning their section title, they had six nonsection wins over WPIAL playoff qualifiers. Shaler has won five WPIAL titles, including a 5A title in 2019.

Challengers: Bethel Park is a two-time defending state champion but hasn’t won a WPIAL title since 1987. Evan Holewinski, a Kent State pitching recruit, has emerged as a two-way standout. The team is hot entering the playoffs, winning 13 of 14 games. … Shaler defeated Bethel Park, 5-2, in March. … South Fayette has a trio of seniors committed to Division I colleges in RHP Tyler Pitzer (S0uth Carolina), CF/LHP Chase Krewson (Duke) and SS Michael DiMartini (Penn State). … Penn-Trafford and Plum shared the Section 1 title and were rewarded with top four seeds. … Peters Township catcher Jackson Natili is a Rutgers recruit with 28 RBIs and nine HRs.

Don’t overlook: Defending WPIAL champion West Allegheny finished third in Section 3, but the Indians have won eight of their past nine.

Prediction: Bethel Park over Shaler

Class 4A

Favorite: Montour is the defending state champion but lost in the WPIAL finals last year. The team hasn’t won a WPIAL title since 1972 — a 51-year wait that could end this month. The Spartans are led by senior OF/P Zac Stern, who has 25 RBIs and a .418 batting average, along with five pitching wins and a 3.15 ERA. Teammate Vinnie Markulin is 6-0 with a 1.35 ERA.

Challengers: Blackhawk and Montour were co-champs in Section 1. They split their two regular-season matchups with both being one-run games. … Twin brothers Anthony Malagise (.500, 24 runs) and Jarrod Malagise (.479, 22 RBIs) lead the Blackhawk offense. … West Mifflin and Chartiers Valley were co-champions in Section 3. … West Mifflin is the defending WPIAL champion. Titans junior Corey Kuszaj is batting .434 with 20 RBIs. … Chartiers Valley played one of the tougher nonsection schedules. … Latrobe, the Section 2 winner, won eight of its final nine games.

Don’t overlook: North Catholic’s overall record is 9-10, but the Trojans did win the Section 4 title.

Prediction: Montour over Blackhawk

Class 3A

Favorite: Riverside is the only undefeated team in WPIAL baseball. The Panthers average 10 runs per game, led by brothers Mitch and Hunter Gavin, who’ve combined for 41 RBIs. The team has seven players batting better than .350. Riverside already owns five WPIAL titles, the most recent in 2017.

Challengers: Avonworth senior Mason Horwat, a Penn State recruit, is a talented two-way player. He’s batting .356 with 23 RBIs and four home runs and has a 5-0 pitching record with a 0.95 ERA. The Antelopes won their only WPIAL title in 1992. … Section 4 champion Yough and Section 3 winner East Allegheny both seek their first WPIAL titles. Yough reached the semifinals in 2019. … South Park is the defending WPIAL champion. The Eagles average 10 runs per game behind senior OF Austin Lafferty (.509, 30 runs, 31 RBIs), an Akron recruit. Lafferty also has five pitching wins and a 3.16 ERA.

Don’t overlook: Neshannock and Shenango tied for second behind Riverside in Section 1, but they know how to win in the playoffs. Neshannock has six WPIAL titles. Shenango won in 2021.

Prediction: Avonworth over Riverside

Class 2A

Favorite: Serra Catholic is the defending champion. The Eagles have outscored opponents 185-40 behind senior Joey DeMoss, who leads the team with 31 RBIs and 29 runs. Top pitcher Zach Karp is 9-1 with a 1.23 ERA. He’s struck out 72 and walked only seven in 44 innings. Serra has won four WPIAL titles, all since 2009.

Challengers: Seton LaSalle has four players with 20 or more RBIs, led by junior Gio LoNero with 30. LoNero, a North Alabama commit, is batting .607 with 17 extra-base hits. Teammate Brian Reed and Nate Georgiana have 25 RBIs each and Mark Weber has 20. They won WPIAL titles in 2019 and 1995. …New Brighton earned a No. 3 seed with a 10-game winning streak to end the regular season. The Lions finished second in Section 2, but split their two-game series with Seton. … Burgettstown seeks its first WPIAL title. The Blue Devils won Section 1 behind Penn State Behrend recruit Andrew Bredel (.489, 24 RBIs). … Chartiers-Houston’s Ryan Opfer is 8-0 with a 1.19 ERA and 71 Ks.

Don’t overlook: All four qualifiers from Section 2 won at least a dozen games: Seton LaSalle (14-4), New Brighton (14-4), South Side (14-4) and OLSH (12-8).

Prediction: Serra Catholic over Seton LaSalle

Class A

Favorite: Union could become only the second team in the past 100 years to win three consecutive WPIAL baseball titles. The Scotties are two-time champions and would match Pine-Richland’s title run from 2004-06 with another WPIAL win. Leading the offense are Brennen Porter (23 RBIs, 22 runs) and Mike Gunn (20 RBIs, 20 runs). Top pitcher Rocco Galmarini is 6-1 with 38 strikeouts in 34 innings. Allegheny won six straight WPIAL titles from 1917-22.

Challengers: Eden Christian has lost to Union in the WPIAL playoffs two years in a row (2022 finals, 2021 semifinals). The Warriors could get back to the final behind a pair of freshmen in Brady Hull (22 RBIs, 23 runs) and Brett Feldman (27 runs). …Neither Eden nor Leechburg has won a WPIAL baseball title. … Five Leechburg hitters have scored at least 20 runs. Owen McDermott is batting .460 with 28 runs and 27 RBIs. …California and Carmichaels tied atop Section 1, but Cal won both head-to-head matchups. … Cal’s offense is led by Ricky Lawson (32 RBIs, 26 runs) and Aidan Lowden (26 RBIs, 20 runs), who’ve combined for 27 extra-base hits. … Liam Lohr, who leads Carmichaels in runs and RBIs, placed third in the WPIAL 2A golf championship last fall. … Leechburg lost twice to Union, 4-2 and 17-16, in the regular season.

Don’t overlook: Bishop Canevin has won 11 of its last 12 games and split a two-game series with Eden.

Prediction: Union over Leechburg

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.