H.S. Baseball: Valley West rallies twice for extra-inning victory

May 22—KINGSTON — Down to his last strike, Dan Escalante tied the score for Wyoming Valley West in the seventh inning.

Down to his last strike, Gunner Giza drove in the game-winning runs for the Spartans in the eighth.

Those two hits accounted for five runs as Valley West edged Wilkes-Barre Area 7-6 in a District 2/4 Class 6A baseball quarterfinal game Tuesday.

"We had some magic moments here early in the year," Valley West coach Mike Petroski said. "We learned that the kids could fight and can stay in the game. It was just one of those magic moments again. They didn't want their season to end."

The victory sends Valley West (10-11) to a semifinal game at Williamsport (13-7) at 4:30 p.m. Thursday. WBA ended its year at 7-14.

Valley West trailed 6-5 with two outs in the eighth when Noah Fetko was hit by a pitch. John Roberts singled, sending pinch runner Evan Harchar to third. Roberts swiped second and the two Spartans scored on Giza's line single to left on a 2-2 pitch.

"Hard line drive," Giza said. "Wanted to score one, but scored both of them."

The eighth inning would have never existed if not for Escalante's three-run single in the seventh that tied the score 5-5.

"It meant the whole world," Giza said. "That's what started it all, right there."

Roberts led off the seventh by being hit by a pitch and Klem followed with a walk. And out later, Cole Hospodar walked to load the bases. After WBA recorded a second out, Escalante cleared the bases with a line single that just eluded a leaping attempt by WBA second baseman Alex Hoffman.

"I didn't think he was going to catch that ball," Escalante said. "I mean, I'm always positive."

Since it was a 3-2 pitch with two outs, Hospodar was almost on second when Escalante connected and scored rather easily.

Omar Jemez's RBI triple in the seventh gave WBA a 5-2 lead. Hoffman's RBI single in the eighth put the Wolfpack ahead 6-5.

WBA led 4-0 after one inning as Jake Howe had an RBI triple, Nathan Fritz had an RBI single and Logan Sincavage doubled off the left-center fence to score two runs.

Valley West's Mason Matello took the mound with two outs in the first and held the Wolfpack to three hits over 6.1 innings.

District 2/4 Class 6A Quarterfinals

Wyo. Valley West 7, Wilkes-Barre Area 6 (8 inn.)

W-B Area'AB'R'H'BI

Davies cf'4'0'0'0

Hufford 2b'4'0'1'1

Bottger p-dh'5'1'1'0

Chupka lf'0'0'0'0

Howe ss'4'1'1'1

Fritz lf-p'4'2'2'1

Jerez 3b'4'1'1'1

Nah 1b'3'0'0'0

Sincavage c'4'0'2'2

Jimenez Vinas 3b'1'1'0'0

Totals'33'6'8'6

Wyo. Valley West'AB'R'H'BI

Rivers ss'4'0'0'0

Escalante 2b'3'1'1'3

Ruddy cf'3'0'1'0

Staron rf'1'0'0'0

Dubaskas lf'4'0'0'0

Richards rf'0'0'0'0

Fetko rf-cf'3'1'0'0

Harchar pr'0'1'0'0

Roberts dh'3'2'1'0

Klem p'0'0'0'0

Matello p'0'0'0'0

Shedlock p'0'0'0'0

Giza 1b'2'0'2'2

Fernandez pr'0'1'0'0

Klosko c'3'0'0'0

Hospodar 2b'2'1'0'0

Totals'28'7'5'5

Wilkes-Barre Area'400'000'11 — 6

Wyo. Valley West'010'001'32 — 7

2B — Sincavage. 3B — Jerez, Howe.

W-B Area'IP'H'R'ER'BB'SO

Bottger'6.0'2'4'2'3'8

Fritz (L)'1.2'3'3'3'1'2

Wyo. Valley West'IP'H'R'ER'BB'SO

Klem'0.2'4'4'4'0'1

Matello'6.1'3'1'1'2'4

Shedlock (W)'1.0'1'1'0'0'1