Seneca Valley Defeats Peters in PIAA Baseball Quarterfinals

Seneca Valley High School starting pitcher Matt Smith picked up right where he left off in the WPIAL championship.

Smith mixed his curve and fastball to defeat Peters Township, 6-4, in a PIAA Class AAAA quarterfinal Thursday at North Allegheny.

The game was a rematch of the WPIAL title game, but not much changed. Same teams. Same Seneca Valley starting pitcher. Same result.

Smith and the Raiders won the WPIAL title last week by a 15-4 margin, but this time it was closer.

“We figured our best chance to beat Peters Township was the man (Smith) on the mound,” Seneca Valley coach Eric Semega said.

Peters Township averaged 10 runs per game against WPIAL opponents this season, but Smith moved to 10-1 overall including four consecutive playoff victories. He struck out six Indians batters. “I knew going in they’re a great hitting team,” Smith said.

Seneca Valley moved to 18-3 overall and advanced to the PIAA semifinals, which will be held at Chambersburg Monday against an opponent to be determined.

“You have to win four games to win the state championship,” Seneca Valley coach Eric Semega said, cautioning his players that two big games remain. Veteran Peters Township coach Joseph Maize said he wouldn’t be surprised if Seneca Valley goes all the way to the state title.

“Defensively, they did the job they needed to do,” Maize said. “Excellent coaching on their part. We knew they were going to be well prepared. They made the defensive plays they needed to make, and we didn’t."

Peters Township ended with a 20-3 record after making several mental and base-running errors against Seneca Valley.

“When you’re playing against this type of a team, you can’t make those types of mistakes,” Maize said. “The thing we stress is you have to play 21 outs. And we didn’t do that. Why? I’m not sure.”

Smith won despite struggling to hit the corners of the plate against Peters Township.

“He didn’t have his best stuff,” Semega said. “He didn’t have his velocity and he wasn’t hitting his spots.”

The Raiders continued their strong defensive play and did not commit an error in the game, while the offense produced six runs on eight hits. Peters Township scored its four runs on 10 hits and committed two errors. Seneca Valley’s Brady Sheetz drove in a pair of runs with a double in the first inning, and the Raiders didn’t score again until the top of the fifth when two more runs crossed the plate following an error.

In the top of the sixth, Jon Dorogy drove in a run with a single and Austin Bream drove in the final run in the seventh with a single. Peters Township sophomore Chris Wastchak started his first PIAA tournament game and pitched four and one-third innings. He allowed two runs and struck out six. Indians reliever Ryan Minteer allowed four runs.

“After I got through the first couple batters, I was zoned in,” Wastchak said. “I think I did pretty good with a lot of responsibility. I think I can build off this and make myself better. I can look back on it, see what I did right, and work on what I did wrong."

Peters Township scored single runs in the first, third, fifth and sixth innings. Outfielder Andrew Erenberg tripled in the first and scored a run on Brady Sheetz’s single.

“He (Wastchak) did a really good job of keeping us off balance,” Semega said. “There was a lot of strategy in this game.”

Seneca Valley opened the PIAA tournament by knocking out Erie McDowell (20-3) with an 8-5 victory Monday at Butler.