Big Macs expect big things this season
Canon-McMillan eyes school’s first crown
Canon-McMillan’s baseball team spent the first weekend of the high school season in Vero Beach, Fla., playing a few games in historic Dodger Town, the former spring training home of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Now that Canon-McMillan is back home, don’t be surprised if the team paints WPIAL Class 6A Big Mac Town.
Expectations are high at CanonMcMillan this season — and for good reason. The Big Macs are expected to challenge for a WPIAL title. The Big Macs have never won a WPIAL title as Canon-McMillan. Old Canonsburg High School won two WPIAL titles in 1935-36.
“The expectations are actually ridiculous,” said Canon-McMillan coach Tim Bruzdewicz. “I don’t know about other districts, but expectations here always seem to be a little inflated. But we love the expectations. We knew we would get these and we wear them. Now we have to earn the expectations.”
Canon-McMillan is the Post-Gazette’s No. 1-ranked WPIAL Class 6A team. The Big Macs have almost every starter returning from last year’s team that made the WPIAL semifinals for the second season in a row.
Among the returnees is senior pitcher Zach Rohaley, who made the Post-Gazette 10-player All-Area team in 2016. Rohaley was 7-0 as a junior with a 0.65 ERA. He has 14 wins in two seasons and also hit .360 last year.
Also back is junior pitcher Cam Weston, a University of Michigan recruit who was 7-0 last year as a sophomore. Weston will hit No. 4 in the lineup. Another top player is first baseman-pitcher Ian Hess, who hit .509 in the regular season a year ago.
Other returnees are shortstop Cam Walker, catcher Brandon Ray and outfielders Greydon Piechnick, Nick Serafino and Brandon Kline. Kline also pitches.
Canon-McMillan, though, will have a tough battle just to win its section. Section 3 in Class 6A is very strong with Bethel Park, Mt. Lebanon and Peters Township.
“I can’t lie and say I don’t look at rankings,” said Bruzdewicz, in his third season. “All coaches do, whether they say it or not. All kids do. But it all breaks down to how small can we break down the game of baseball? Are we going to be able to break down every pitch to win a game? If we can’t do that, then we can’t get to where we want to be.”
Here is a look at some other top teams around the WPIAL:
Class 6A
Pine-Richland is the defending WPIAL champion and has the makings to repeat, if an inexperienced pitching staff rounds into form. All of the Rams’ top pitchers graduated, including ace Ryan Okuda (Virginia Tech recruit). Elsewhere on the team, there is plenty of talent. Junior infielder Troy LaNeve is a Vanderbilt recruit and one of the WPIAL’s top players. Senior catcher Matt Wood has signed with Penn State and was Pine-Richland’s RBI leader a year ago. Senior outfielder Josh Johnson batted better than .300 last season and signed with Kent State.
Andrew Heck begins his second season as North Allegheny’s coach and has seven returning starters from a team that lost in the WPIAL championship to Pine-Richland, 32. The returnees are led by outfielder-pitcher Luke Trueman, who led the team in hitting last season. Also back are infielder-pitcher Colin Cain (Slippery Rock recruit), infielder Justin Hamm (Gannon), catcher Juliano Capretta, infielder-pitcher Caden Wood (Seton Hill), outfielder Ben Surman (John Carroll) and pitcher-infielder Anthony Hattrup.
No. 4 Mt. Lebanon made the WPIAL semifinals a year ago and returns all-section outfielder Matt D’Alessandro.
No. 5 Hempfield has three returning all-section players — infielders Isaiah Di Andreith and Braden Brose, and pitcher Justin Wright.
Plum is a team to watch with senior pitcher Ryan Kircher, who had a 0.55 ERA last season and made the Post-Gazette-All-Area team.
Class 5A
No. 1 Mars lost in the WPIAL title game to Latrobe last year and the Planets look to be good enough to win their first WPIAL championship. Mars has a terrific one-two pitching punch in senior Frank Craska (Lafayette) and junior Will Bednar (Ohio State). Senior catcher Jack Anderson made allsection last year and is a Northwestern recruit.
Moon will be led by pitcher Nick Maue while North Hills also has a top pitcher in Joey Pusateri, who was 4-1 last season with an ERA below 1.00.
West Allegheny lost a number of key players from last year’s team that made the WPIAL semifinals. But the Indians feature one of the top players in sophomore outfielder-pitcher Austin Hendrick, who was ranked the No. 1 sophomore in the country by Perfect Game scouting. This tells you all you need to know about Hendrick’s talent: He already has committed to Mississippi State. His other finalists were LSU, Vanderbilt and TCU.
Latrobe is the defending WPIAL and PIAA champion and the Wildcats are worth watching again, but graduation took away most of their starters.
Class 4A
Perennial power Blackhawk is strong again. “We’ve got some good kids, some good pitchers,” said Blackhawk coach Bob Amalia, whose team is defending WPIAL champion. “It’s a matter of how our other kids come around.”
Blackhawk has senior shortstop Mike Turconi, a Wake Forest recruit and member of the P-G All-Area team a year ago when he hit .523 and set school records for hits (45) and RBIs (42). Pitcher Andy McClymonds also returns. McClymonds (Slippery Rock) was 9-1 last year with 75 strikeouts in 50 innings and a 1.68 ERA. Also back is shortstop-third baseman Tyler Robinson, who hit .375.
South Park was a WPIAL and PIAA finalist last season and the Eagles have two top returnees in infielder Tyler By walski and pitcher Kevin Vaupel.
Hopewell could make some noise with senior pitcher Joe Rock, an Ohio University recruit.
Class 3A
Riverside should be strong again. What else is new? Coach Dan Oliastro has a golden anniversary this season as he celebrates his 50th year as the Panthers’ coach. Don’t be surprised if Oliastro becomes only the second coach in WPIAL baseball history to win his sixth WPIAL title.
Riverside is the defending WPIAL champion and has three all-section players returning: catcher Gunnar Boehm and outfielders Tyler Thellman and Austin Dambach. Pitching is the question mark with Riverside.
Steel Valley has all-section players in catcher Brady Miller and shortstop Ray Chuba.
Brownsville is a team to watch with three all-section returnees, led by pitcher Dylan Brosky.
Class 2A
Serra lost one of its top players when Ben Visnesky transferred to West Mifflin. Visnesky led the WPIAL in hitting during the regular season in 2016 with an average of .615. He was also 8-0 as a pitcher in the regular season.
But the cupboard certainly isn’t bare at Serra. Shortstop Nate Piontka batted better than .500 last season. Sophomore catcher Mark Black made all-section as a freshman. Also back are infielder Zack Bowen and his twin brother, outfielder Ben.
Always-strong Neshannock looks like it might be better than last year’s 15-7 team. Coach Mike Kirkwood has five WPIAL titles.
Brentwood had an excellent season a year ago and has an experienced team, led by all-section outfielder Austin Veatch.
Class 1A
Jeannette lost some key players to graduation, but the Jayhawks still have enough to make a run at a second consecutive WPIAL title. Shortstop Tyler Elliott and outfielder Seth Howard were both allsection a year ago. Pitcher-infielder Tre Cunningham also returns.
Vincentian will be led by shortstop Kyler Fedko (Connecticut), who hit .476 last regular season. Aidan Thomson figures to be one of the top pitchers in Class 1A.