Baseball News

The North Allegheny baseball team jumped out to a four-run lead and hung on in the late innings for an 8-6 triumph over Butler in the Section 1-6A opener for the Tigers. Junior Mason Smith paced a 12-hit attack with a 3-for-4 four performance, including two triples, a double, two RBIs and three runs scored. For his efforts, Smith was named the Wright Automotive Player of the Game.

In the first inning, Smith started the scoring with an RBI triple and was followed by senior Owen Schall‘s RBI ground out for a quick 2-0 lead. North Allegheny extended the lead to 4-0 with an RBI ground out by Jackson Walsh in the third inning and an RBI single courtesy of Matthew Parreaguirre in the fourth inning.

Butler was rendered hitless by senior starting pitcher David Posey through the first three innings before a two-run homer by Noah Collins emphatically gave the GT’s their first hit in the top of the fourth and cut the NA lead to 4-2.

North Allegheny answered back immediately in the bottom of the fourth thanks to an RBI single by Schall and an RBI ground out by Posey, increasing the Tigers lead to 6-2.

The Golden Tornado once again cut the deficit to two runs in the top of the fifth inning. An RBI single by Nolan Stefaniak made it 6-3, Tigers, prompting NA to go to Walsh out of the bullpen. With runners at the corners and nobody out, Walsh induced a double play ball off the bat of Boden Lenynk that scored a runner from third but also quieted a potential big inning. The Tigers held a 6-4 lead after five innings.

Things got even tighter in the top of the sixth inning when Noah Kellinger’s RBI single cut the NA advantage to just 6-5. With runners at the corners and two outs, Walsh delivered another crucial late-game out by inducing a groundout of Stefaniak to leave two runners stranded.

In the bottom of the sixth, North Allegheny added a pair of important insurance runs when Smith tripled home freshman J.J. Mancuso and later scored on a wild pitch, ballooning the Tigers’ advantage to 8-5. Mancuso was 2-for-3 on the night with a double, a stolen base and two runs scored.

Not going down without a fight, Butler built another uprising in the top of the seventh and cut the NA lead to 8-6 when Mavrik Clement trotted home on a wild pitch. With two outs and runners at second and third, Walsh clinched the victory with a strikeout of Carson Bish and the Tigers hung on for an 8-6 win. The save was Walsh’s second of the season. He worked three innings and allowed two runs, one earned, with four strikeouts and four walks.

Posey was the winning pitcher and improved to 2-0 on the campaign. The U.S. Naval Academy commit tossed four innings and permitted four runs, punching out six and walking three. Bish suffered the loss for Butler, going 5.1 innings and allowed all eight runs with four strikeouts and three walks.

Senior catcher Andrew Dixon was also pivotal to the win, blocking numerous pitches in the dirt with runners aboard in the late innings and throwing out one runner. He also reached base twice with a pair of walks.

With the win, North Allegheny improves to 4-0 overall and 1-0 in Section 1-6A. Butler slips to 3-3 overall and 1-2 in the section. The Tigers will visit the Golden Tornado at Pullman Park on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. in game two of the three-game series.

Line Score - Baseball vs. Butler - 04/08/2024

Score by Innings	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Butler	0	0	0	2	2	1	1	6	5	0
North Allegheny	2	1	1	2	0	2	X	8	12	2

WP - David Posey (2-0) LP - Carson Bish (1-1) SV - Jackson Walsh (2)