Dominant junior helps Neshannock win it all

Neshannock coach Mike “Bub” Kirkwood had an idea for the WPIAL championship game and pulled aside ace pitcher Frank Fraschetti at a weekend practice to tell him.

Kirkwood was going to let Fraschetti pitch to the first nine batters and Rich Serignese to the next nine. Maybe Kirkwood had taken one off the noggin in batting practice, Fraschetti thought.

“He told me and at first I said, ‘Bub, you’re kidding, right?’ ” Fraschetti said. “Then he said he wasn’t kidding. I just said, ‘whatever.’ ”

When the game came around Tuesday night, Fraschetti strongarmed Kirkwood into scrapping his plan.

Fraschetti was too good to

remove. He turned in a stellar performance as Neshannock blanked Quaker Valley, 4-0, in the Class AA title game at Consol Energy Park.

Fraschetti, a junior right-hander, was a model of efficiency. He threw only 66 pitches, tossed a threehitter and struck out five to lead Neshannock (16-5) to its sixth championship and fifth under Kirkwood.

Kirkwood explained the reason for his plan after the game.

“Just so [Quaker Valley] wouldn’t see the second guy twice,” said Kirkwood. “But [Fraschetti] had such command and control, I said let’s just go with Frank. Early on, he was spotting his curveball, throwing strikes and threw a couple changeups in there. Once he did that, I knew he was ready to go.

Fraschetti was so efficient the game was over in one hour, 20 minutes. It was only the eighth shutout in a Class AA final since the classification was formed in 1979.

“I think this was my best performance all year, just because my pitch count was down and I had command of every single pitch,” Fraschetti said. “And [Tuesday] was a day where I trusted my fielders more than anything. I know you can’t win a WPIAL without having faith in the team behind you.”

Fraschetti had more than faith after the first inning. He had a four-run lead. Neshannock had scored 27 runs in the first three playoff games. The Lancers really only hit in the first inning Tuesday, but it was enough.

Neshannock scored four runs in the bottom of the first on three hits and a Quaker Valley error. That was more than enough for Fraschetti, who retired the Quakers (15-5) in order in the final three innings.

All four runs off Quaker Valley starter Tyler Garbee were unearned. Ray Scala, who had two hits, led off for Neshannock with a double before Serignese laid down a nice sacrifice bunt. Quaker Valley catcher John Medich threw wide of first, allowing Serignese to reach.

After a strikeout, Garbee hit Don Colucci to load the bases. Garbee struck out Fraschetti for the second out, but Jason Swope hit a two-run single. Jeff Sanfilippo made it 4-0 with a tworun single, one of three hits for him.

“We were facing a good pitcher, probably one of the best in the WPIAL,” said Kirkwood. Neshannock had only three hits the rest of the game off Garbee.

“I’m still very proud of our team. We just didn’t play our best baseball,” said Quaker Valley coach Todd Goble.

Both teams will be in the PIAA playoffs Monday.