Tyler Smith

Penn-Trafford

This week: Smith pitched a two-hitter with eight strikeouts Monday and also went 3 for 3 with 2 home runs and 6 RBIs in a 12-0 victory against Connellsville.

Check this out: Smith is one of the top players in the WPIAL. A 6-foot, 230-pound senior, he is 5-2 as a pitcher with a 1.47 ERA and 54 strikeouts in 38 innings. Smith plays third base when he doesn’t pitch and has a .560 batting average (28 for 50). He is 10-3 as a pitcher over the past two seasons and has helped Penn-Trafford to a 10-3 record this season.

College talk: Smith will play at Canisius, an NCAA Division I college in Buffalo, N.Y.

You had some arm problems at the end of 2013 season. How is the arm now? It feels great. Honestly, it feels better than it did before I had the problems last year.

Have you always been a good hitter, too? Typically, yes. But not to the level I am this year. I don’t want to say it’s a fluke because I hope it continues.

What gets you more pumped, a home run or striking out the side? Definitely a home run because it doesn’t happen much.

This Penn-Trafford team is …? Incredible. I’d have to say that. I have never played with a better group of guys and I have never played with a group of guys that had so much talent. The Pirates need … ? To hit. Are you going to the prom? Yes.

Any crazy way you asked your date to the prom? I was going to light a bunch of candles on the back patio of my dad’s house to ask her, but the wind didn’t help me out. So I was able to light a bunch of little fireworks that shoot showers of sparks and I asked her that way. It ended up working well actually.

People might be surprised to know … ? I’m completely clueless about electronics. My brother puts me to shame when it comes to working a computer. I even have trouble with stupid little things like uploading an image.

— By Mike White