H.S. Baseball: Dallas looking to repeat history in 4A title game

The Dallas Mountaineers won the PIAA Class 4A state baseball championship in 2017.

Exactly six years to the date, they will try for another one … weather permitting.

District 2 champion Dallas (18-7) plays District 6 champion Bellefonte (19-5) at 1:30 p.m. Friday at Medlar Field at Penn State University. The forecast calls for a 70% chance of rain in State College. In the event the game is postponed, it will be played at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.

Dallas will be at the same field on the same date as in 2017, but starting 30 minutes later against a different opponent.

The first step to Penn State came way back in September when coach Ken Kashatus stepped down after 20 years because of personal reasons. Former freshmen coach Mike Viglone was appointed and had to win off the field as well as on it.

“For the seniors on this team, I know it was tough to go from a coach that’s been here 20-plus years to a new coach,” Viglone said. “But they bought in to what I wanted to do and what the staff wanted to do since day one. They’ve been fantastic all year.”

Senior right fielder Joey Peters had a jump on the transition.

“I’ve known coach Viglone my whole life. He was my neighbor growing up,” Peters said. “I didn’t think it was that difficult of a change. We all love baseball and we all want to play baseball. So whatever he’s going to do to help us win and help us succeed, we’re just going along with it.”

Dallas’ on-field success can be traced to the three aspects of baseball — hitting, pitching and fielding. The Mountaineers aren’t top-heavy in any category, so don’t have to rely solely on just one of them. All three have been strong in states.

The Mountaineers routed Nueva Esperanza in their state opener. Starting pitcher Sam Barrouk was dominant in a 6-0 quarterfinal win over Hanover where the bats weren’t as potent.

Then Dallas was on point in a 8-3 semifinal win over Archbishop Wood. The defense was flawless. The offense produced a six-run inning. Breaking-ball specialist Gary Weaver overcame a shaky start to throw four strong innings.

“Pretty simple,” senior first baseman Shane Healey said. “We’ve got two really good pitchers who we can throw and go out there and start. And we have another really good pitcher (Dusty Shaver) who we have in our bullpen. Our defense is second to none. You saw (Tuesday) we had zero errors.”

Weaver is ineligible to pitch Friday because he won’t have the required PIAA rest time. Barrouk threw three innings against Wood and will start. Should the game be postponed to Saturday, then Weaver will be available.

The latest hitting stats available have Peters (.551) leading the team followed by Dylan Geskey (.500), Zach Paczewski (.346), Gavin Adamski (.329), Healey (.328) and JJ Rischawy (.327).

“Definitely the meat of our order, probably 2-3-4 because they get the guys going later in the lineup and set the tone for them for the rest of the game,” said senior center fielder Mikey Timinski, who bats in the nine spot. “If they start hot, everybody is hot and it get contagious.”

Bellefonte has qualified for the state playoffs five consecutive seasons, but it’s the first time the Raiders have moved beyond the quarterfinals. They won the Class 3A state championship in 2016.

Bellefonte is an excellent hitting bunch. Duke recruit Trevor Johnson leads a batting order with seven players hitting .317 or better. The 6-foot-2, 195-pound junior is batting .562 with 11 home runs and 30 RBI. Next in line are senior Alex Ebeling (.410, 25 RBI) and sophomore Peyton Vancas (.405, 25 RBI).

Senior pitcher Dominic Capperella is the ace of the staff. He has a 3.47 ERA with 85 strikeouts in 68.2 innings. A bit concerning is he has surrendered 71 hits and walked 35. Vancas is next in line with a 6-0 record, a 1.24 ERA and 43 strikeouts in 45 innings.