Monessen puts baseball on map with first playoff win

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

There are no billboards or commercials honoring the achievement.

The final score was enough in itself.

Monessen 2, Western Beaver 0

And with that result Tuesday afternoon, Monessen, which has been winning WPIAL boys basketball titles since 1919, won a playoff baseball game for what is believed to be the very first time.

“Nobody ever takes notice of the baseball team. Maybe this got people to pay attention,” said pitcher-shortstop Cory Fleming.

Bill Matush took Monessen to the WPIAL playoffs three previous times in his 15 seasons as coach, but the Greyhounds lost their playoff opener each time. They did the same in 1985 when Matush and Fleming’s father, Hough, helped the Greyhounds win their most recent section title. The Greyhounds (11-6) finished as the runner-up in Class 1A Section 2 this season and used a big effort from Fleming (three-hitter with 13 strikeouts) to make history.

“It felt really good. To get the win, it takes a lot of the pressure off. We don’t have that on our backs anymore,” Matush said.

Fleming is one of four seniors on the team. The others are Antonio Rhome, Tyler Caterino and Nick Baker.

Monessen will play No. 2 seed Union (12-3) in Monday’s quarterfinals. Monessen dropped a 3-2 heartbreaker to Union in 10 innings in last year’s first round.

“We want to keep making history. Go all the way to the championship,” Fleming said.

Battle of aces

Looking for a good pitching matchup? There might not be a better one in the entire playoffs than the showdown that could potentially take place when Central Catholic (14-4) faces Butler (12-6) in a Class 6A quarterfinal. The likely starters are Marshall McGraw (Central Catholic) and Connor Ollio (Butler).

McGraw, a senior righthander, led the WPIAL in wins during the regular season when he compiled a 9-0 record and struck out 43 in 47 innings. He’s a Seton Hill recruit. Ollio, also a senior right-hander, is a North Carolina recruit who is 3-1 and has 46 strikeouts in 27⅓ innings.

“I always tell people that North Carolina doesn’t go after bad players. He’s very good and his track record shows that,” Central Catholic coach Pat Walsh said. “Marshall is a little more of an unknown. We kind of knew what we had. Seton Hill knew. We’re very happy.”

Central Catholic was happy each time it played Butler in the regular season, beating its Section 1 foe by scores of 3-1 and 3-2. Ollio and McGraw didn’t go head to head either time.

Facing Bednar

Laurel Highlands has a strong offense that is averaging nine runs per game, but the Mustangs (16-3) will face the WPIAL’s hottest pitcher when they take on Will Bednar and Mars (13-5) in a Class 5A quarterfinal.

Bednar has 57 strikeouts in his past four starts and fanned 16 in a 2-1 first-round win against Trinity when his pitches were clocked as high as 95 mph. Bednar, a junior right-hander, is 7-0 and has a WPIAL-high 92 strikeouts.

“It will obviously be a challenge because you don’t see guys like that every day,” said Laurel Highlands coach Scott DeBerry. “But our guys have battled all year and we expect to battle to the last out against Mars.

The Mustangs will likely counter with Andino Vecchiolla, a sophomore lefthander who is 5-1.