Baseball News

By Randy Gore

The North Allegheny baseball team hosted Butler in game two of a three-game series on Thursday afternoon and dropped a 5-3 decision to the Section 1-6A rival Golden Tornado.

In a seesaw contest, the visiting Tornado took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning on a Trent Best RBI single and a North Allegheny defensive miscue, but a pair of Butler errors in the bottom of the second inning helped the Tigers tie the score. A fielder’s choice RBI by Dominic Williams and a Jake Fritz sacrifice fly evened things up at 2-2.

Butler regained the lead briefly in the top of the third inning, 3-2, but North Allegheny responded in kind in the home half of the third inning, thanks to an RBI double by Mason Dratfinsky, knotting the contest at 3-3.

In the top of the fourth inning, Butler leapfrogged ahead courtesy of an RBI groundout by Best for a 4-3 lead. The GT’s added an insurance run in the top of the sixth when Ryan Rattigan singled home Best for a 5-3 advantage.

Once Butler seized the lead, right-handed hurler Kyle Casteel settled into a groove in the middle-to-late innings, effectively silencing the Tigers for the remainder of his outing. The West Virginia University commit struck out 11 batters and retired the last 13 consecutive batters he faced. Despite his dominance, Casteel was forced to exit the game with one out in the seventh inning due to pitch count, handing the game over to reliever Jacon Szbalskie. With a new pitcher on the mound, North Allegheny immediately built an uprising and loaded the bases. With two outs, the Tigers came tantalizingly close to winning the game when Dratfinsky belted a deep line drive to left field, but the long fly ball was hauled in by Butler’s Nash Cuffman with his back up against the fence, securing a 5-3 victory for the Golden Tornado.

Casteel earned the victory for the GTs, and Szbalskie picked up the save. For North Allegheny, freshman reliever Samson Rosenberg suffered the loss in three innings of work, permitting one unearned run with two walks and two strikeouts.

Reaching base three times with a single, a pair of walks and a run scored, junior Christian Simons was named the Wright Automotive Player of the Game.

North Allegheny falls to 3-4 overall and 0-2 in Section 1-6A, while Butler improves to 7-2 overall and 4-1 in the section. The Tigers and Golden Tornado will meet again in game three of the series on Friday for a contest scheduled for 7:00 p.m. The game, weather permitting, will be broadcast live by the North Allegheny Sports Network.

Baseball Summary vs. Butler, 4-9-26

Score By Innings	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Butler	2	0	1	1	0	1	0	5	4	4
North Allegheny	0	2	1	0	0	0	0	3	5	4

WP - Kyle Casteel (3-0)
LP - Samson Rosenberg (0-1)
SV - Jacob Szbalskie (1)