Talented underclassmen provide promising future for Knoch baseball

By: Nathan Breisinger
Monday, May 27, 2024 | 10:11 AM

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While the start of the season did not go the way the Knoch baseball team envisioned, the Knights still had some life near the end of April.

Sitting at 2-6 in Section 1-4A, Knoch had a two-game must-win series with Hampton as its playoff hopes hung in the balance.

“Our coaches challenged us to win the next few games, and we knew we could get in,” senior Brady Wozniak said about the message heading into the series.

Aiming to meet those expectations, the Knights took a certain savage attitude into the matchup.

“We lost to them both games last year, so we went in with a killer mindset and wanted to show everybody what we could do,” junior Sean Morgan said.

With 7-foot ace Zane Pacek on the mound for Game 1, not only did the bats wake up, but it was a complete offensive beatdown by the Knights that featured a season-high 21 hits en route to a pivotal 16-8 win.

“We hit the ball finally,” coach Bill Stoops said. “Twenty-one hits, I’d never heard of that before, and I’ve been coaching a long time.”

In Game 2, Knoch rallied down two runs in the seventh inning to walk off the Talbots via a Wozniak double to punch its ticket to the postseason.

For Wozniak, a first-team all-section selection, the victory provided one more chance at a playoff run after the Knights missed the tournament the previous year.

“It meant a lot because I knew how hard our team had worked, and we were so much better than our record showed,” he said.

Despite losing to West Mifflin, 9-3, in the first round, Knoch looks to take some value out of the late-season success for next year.

“We’re young, but we got a lot of experience from this run,” Stoops said.

Wozniak and first-team all-section outfielder Logan Cypher — two of eight departing seniors — will pass the torch to the junior class that includes one of his best friends in Morgan.

“I’m pretty confident that Sean will be able to lead that team next year,” Wozniak said. “He’s very vocal and outspoken. He’s not afraid to call people out for good reason. When he’s in the moment, he cares so much, and you can see that through the way he talks.”

Morgan, who starts at first base, already has experience in leading the right side of the infield next to his younger brother, Kyle, who plays second base.

“It’s truly a once-and-a-lifetime thing to me, and it really helps me knowing he’s there,” Sean said. “He does his best to not make mistakes in front of his big brother because he knows he’ll hear it from me on the bus or at home. I love him being my second baseman right next to me, and we do have a great connection on the field.”

Morgan will take charge of a team that hopes to return to the postseason for the second consecutive season with a strong rising junior class that includes the likes of his brother, Cooper Allison, Dante Pelloni and Pacek. Allison and Pacek were second-team all-section.

Pacek assembled an impressive season as he posted a 3.04 ERA while tossing a team-high 30 strikeouts.

“He’s learned how to use his body more,” Stoops said. “He has a tremendous slider that he uses with a changeup. During the playoffs, we have a scouting report and for two days, he took it home and read it. He knows the game, understands the game and enjoys the game.”

For Morgan and his teammates, they are thankful to play behind Pacek and not be on the receiving end of his pitches that range in the 80s.

“I’m not scared of any pitcher. I can hit anything, but he is very hard to hit,” Morgan said. “He has such a large down slope. I’ve seen kids after the game crowd around him asking how tall he is or how fast he throws.”

With a combination of experience and talent, there’s an expectation already established for next season.

“They got that varsity experience, now they got that playoff experience, so now they know what to expect,” Stoops said.

Tags: Knoch