Baseball News

The North Allegheny baseball team capitalized on erratic pitching from Central Catholic hurlers for two big innings and a 10-3 victory on Monday afternoon in non-section play.

In the bottom of the first inning, sophomore Carson Pettyjohn got the start for the visiting Vikings and walked three batters, hit two more, uncorked two wild pitches, accounted for a throwing error, and committed one balk. When the dust settled, the Tigers cashed in for six runs on just two hits in the inning and led, 6-0.

Central Catholic went to the bullpen for the second inning and received an impressive outing from sophomore Joshua McFadden. The right-hander went four innings scoreless innings of relief to give his team a chance to rally.

The Vikings lineup was held hitless in the first three frames by NA starter David Posey but PCC started to make some noise in the top of the fourth. An RBI double by Pettyjohn cut the the Tigers lead to 6-1, but with a chance to trim the deficit further with the bases loaded and one out, Posey shut the door on the Vikings with a strikeout and groundout in his final inning of work.

Central Catholic continued to chip away in the top of the fifth inning, however, when Landon Greene clubbed a home run over the right field fence to cut the NA lead to 6-3. That was as close as the Vikings would get as another sloppy inning by the PCC pitching staff put the game away for the Tigers in the bottom of the sixth.

Without the benefit of a base hit, North Allegheny took advantage of five walks, two wild pitches and an error to score four more runs and increased the score to 10-3, Tigers. North Allegheny senior reliever Greg Schmidt went the final three innings to earn the save, allowing two runs with six strikeouts and four walks.

Posey was the winning pitcher with four strong innings on the bump, permitting only one run with five strikeouts and two walks. Offensively, the U.S. Naval Academy commit also went 1-for-2 with a walk and two RBI’s and was named the Wright Automotive Player of the Game for a solid all-around performance.

Senior third baseman Owen Schall tallied two RBI’s, while adding a walk and a run scored. Seniors J.D. Costanzo and Andrew Dixon chipped in with RBI’s in the victory.

With the win, North Allegheny improves to 2-0 on the young season, while Central Catholic falls to 3-1. The Tigers will host Norwin in a rematch of last season’s WPIAL quarterfinal. The game will be broadcast live by the North Allegheny Sports Network.

Line Score - Baseball vs. Central Catholic - 03/25/2024

Score by Innings	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Central Catholic	0	0	0	1	2	0	0	3	4	2
North Allegheny	6	0	0	0	0	4	X	10	5	0

WP - David Posey (1-0) LP - Carson Pettyjohn (1-1) SV - Greg Schmidt (1)