North Continues to Dominate Quad A Baseball as Seneca Valley Routs Peters Twp

By: Bruce Markey
Tuesday, May 31, 2011 | 12:00 AM

The Seneca Valley Raiders won their first ever WPIAL Quad-A baseball title in a rout, defeating number one seed Peters Township 15-4 on Tuesday night at Consol Energy Park. The Raiders got a three run homer from Christian Durbin and a solo shot by Jack Graham. Matt Smith pitched a gem after a rough start, striking out nine in the final five innings.

It's the second championship for the Raiders, the first came back in 1994 in Class AAA. It's also the third straight championship for a member of Section 1, with North Allegheny winning in 2009 and Pine-Richland claiming the 2010 title.

Peters Township jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, Austin Hancock singled home Justin Miller.

Seneca Valley sent nine batters to the plate in the second, Ben Murray drove home a run with a rbi single and Christian Durbin hammered a 2-2 pitch from Ryan Minteer over the left field wall for a three-run homer to put Seneca Valley up 4-1. Durbin said the pitch was a low curveball and he was trying to protect the plate. He said he hit it hard and hoped it stayed fair. The Indians rallied in the bottom half of the inning. Andrew Erenberg singled home a run, Brady Sheetz followed one batter later with a run-scoring double, Erenberg scored on a wild pitch to tie the game at four.

The Raiders took control in the third, Jack Graham hit a solo shot to left on an 0-1 pitch, giving the Raiders a 5-4 lead. Peters Township was rallying in the bottom of the inning, Chris Olivo struck out with runners at first and second and only one out, but Brad Gresock gunned out McClure at third to end the inning on a strange strikeout-throwout double play.

The Raiders took advantage of some shoddy defense by the Indians in the fourth, Christian Durbin reached on an error on Mike Chamberlin, Jon Dorogy reached on a fielders choice, then Brad Gresock hit a shallow fly to left that shortstop Sheetz backed off, forcing left fielder Justin Miller to come way in to try and make the catch. The ball clanked off his glove which allowed Murray to score. Sam Fragale hit a sac fly to center to plate Jon Dorogy, then Collier, again running for Gresock, scored on a wild pitch and an 8-4 lead.