Riverside baseball team goes for surprise repeat
Having teams go for back-to-back titles isn’t all that uncommon but few could have predicted it for Riverside, the defending WPIAL and PIAA Class AA champions. Seven key members of last year’s championship team graduated with only Rob Hardy, Tyler Falk, Devin Kelosky, and Blaise McCarty returning as regulars.
Despite those graduation losses, Riverside will be defending its title today at 5:30 at CONSOL Energy Park in Washington and the Panthers have used both hitting and pitching to get there. The bats had powered Riverside through the first two playoff games but used pitching to get past the semifinals – a 2-1 win over Shady Side Academy as Hardy pitched a four-hitter.
Riverside enters the game with an 18-5 record and three of the losses have come to teams still playing – Blackhawk (in the AAA championship game), Hopewell (in the AAA consolation game) and, most significantly, Ellwood City – Riverside’s opponent today.
The Panthers split with Ellwood in the regular season with each winning at home. Riverside won with pitching, 1-0, while Ellwood City won with hitting, 13-3. That pattern could well hold again.
Despite those graduation losses, Riverside will be defending its title today at 5:30 at CONSOL Energy Park in Washington and the Panthers have used both hitting and pitching to get there. The bats had powered Riverside through the first two playoff games but used pitching to get past the semifinals – a 2-1 win over Shady Side Academy as Hardy pitched a four-hitter.
Riverside enters the game with an 18-5 record and three of the losses have come to teams still playing – Blackhawk (in the AAA championship game), Hopewell (in the AAA consolation game) and, most significantly, Ellwood City – Riverside’s opponent today.
The Panthers split with Ellwood in the regular season with each winning at home. Riverside won with pitching, 1-0, while Ellwood City won with hitting, 13-3. That pattern could well hold again.
baseball