Burrell baseball battles in PIAA 1st round loss to Fairview

By: Michael Love
Monday, June 3, 2024 | 5:36 PM

The Burrell baseball team went down swinging in the seventh inning of Monday’s PIAA Class 3A first-round game against District 10 champion Fairview at Mercyhurst.

Down by seven, the Bucs tallied three runs on three hits in the final inning off of Tigers reliever Aari Fox and had two runners on base.

Fox was able to get freshman left fielder Trey Coury to pop up for the final out to quell the rally and finish a 7-3 victory.

“We played a hell of a team,” Burrell coach Jay Miller said. “They took advantage of every single opportunity they were given. It feels like we were waiting for that one base hit. But that wasn’t what we were focusing on after the game. It was a great year for the guys. They played really well.

“We stepped up and matured a lot as a team. It was really nice to see us grow together. It was a special opportunity for the guys to play in the state playoffs.”

Burrell, which came from the No. 14 seed for the WPIAL playoffs to clinch a berth in the PIAA tournament, finished its season 13-11.

About a dozen members of the Burrell team will stay together this summer on the Lower Burrell American Legion team in the District 31 league.

The first game is Wednesday against Hempfield East.

“It’s tough when it is the last game, and you come up just short,” Miller said. “But the guys battled through every up and down in that game.”

Fairview (17-3) will play in the PIAA quarterfinals for the third year in a row. The Tigers hope to make it to the semifinals after losses to Riverside and Martinsburg Central in the round of eight the last two seasons.

It was the third PIAA win for the program in its 10th all-time game.

“We’re back in that spot, and we’re thrilled to have the chance to take that next step,” Tigers veteran coach Joe Spinelli said. “We lost to the state champs the last two years.”

Fairview will face Avonworth on Thursday at a site and time to be determined. The Antelopes defeated Martinsburg Central, 6-1, in a first-round matchup Monday at Seneca Valley.

“We’re going to get back at it tomorrow, and we’ll see what we can do Thursday,” Spinelli said.

Fairview got on the board quickly against the Bucs and junior starter Stevie Hasson.

Fox, a senior Slippery Rock commit who started the game at shortstop, took the first pitch of the game from Hasson to right field for a triple. He scored on a sacrifice fly from Tigers junior pitcher Tyler Benford for a 1-0 lead.

Fairview added two runs in the bottom of the third. The big hit of the inning was a two-out, two-run single from junior first baseman Caleb Szklenski.

Earlier in the inning, Hasson took a liner from Benford off his right leg. He was able to shake it off and pitched into the sixth.

Fairview scored four more times off of Hasson in the sixth to open it to 7-0. Junior Isaac Lacinski, who started the game as the designated hitter, came on in relief.

Hasson finished with six earned runs on seven hits with one walk and two strikeouts.

“It speaks to how Stevie is and how he carries himself,” Miller said about how Hasson kept working after taking the ball off his leg. “He collected himself and even made a couple of jokes after it happened. That is exactly the way we expect him to handle it.”

Benford, who won his eighth game of the season, carried a no-hitter into the fifth. Burrell had reached base three times on Tigers errors before Lacinski beat out an infield single with one out.

“That was all effort on Isaac’s part,” Miller said.

Lacinski was Benford’s last batter. He threw 70 pitches and struck out four, walked one and gave up just the one hit. Senior Patrick Stafford came on and walked junior Ryan Bates before recording the final two outs to end the Burrell rally.

“Coming into the season, Tyler’s total innings were two-thirds of an inning,” Spinelli said. “We lost one of our top pitchers and hitters to a knee injury, and Tyler has really stepped up for us. He’s such a tough and competitive kid. He’s been big for us.”

Senior Justin Hyland walked to lead off the seventh, and sophomore Brayden Mell doubled to put two runners on. With one out, senior Dylan McKallip singled home Hyland to get Burrell on the board.

Senior AJ McLafferty brought Mell home on a sacrifice fly to left, and Lacinski doubled home McKallip with the Bucs’ third run of the inning.

“It speaks volumes to their character that they weren’t going to give up,” Miller said. “They weren’t going to be shut out. They went up to the plate looking to swing the bat, string hits together and get on base as much as they could.”

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Burrell