CENTER VALLEY – There was no mistaking that the Lake-Lehman baseball team that began this season had the potential for a bright future in the seasons ahead.
“It’s a very young group,” Lake-Lehman coach Len Sincavage said. “We have one senior who starts and that’s C.J. (Cercone).”
Before long, however, Sincavage realized he might not have to wait to see results from his talented squad.
“It was in the back of my mind,” Sincavage said after Thursday’s 11-0, six-inning rout of Science & Leadership Academy from Philadelphia landed the Black Knights in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class 3A state baseball semifinals. “We all talked and we knew we had a talented team and the potential was there.”
Lake-Lehman has been stringing together achievements in a 21-3 season. The Black Knights won the Wyoming Valley Conference Division 3 and District 2 Class 2A titles before putting together two state tournament wins in one season for the first time in school history.
Monday’s scheduled game against District 11 champion Notre Dame Green Pond, an 8-0 winner over Wyoming Seminary Thursday, will be the first state semifinal baseball game in school history. The Black Knights, who start two freshmen, three sophomores and three juniors, are headed to Pottsville for the 4:30 p.m. game.
“It was up to the kids,” Sincavage said. “They worked hard. A couple of things did go our way, which you need, throughout the season.
“I thought we had the talent to be very competitive this year.”
The Black Knights were more than competitive Thursday.
They were dominant against the District 12 champions.
Lake-Lehman put together 13 singles, including nine over the last three innings, while its pitchers held Science & Leadership to one.
The Black Knights also stole eight bases on the way to ending the game early on the 10-run rule.
Eight of the nine starters had hits.
The other, Cercone, the senior catcher, walked, stole a base and scored a run.
Luke Spencer had three hits, stole two bases and scored three times.
Ty Federici, Alex Magdalinski and Nick Finarelli had two hits each while combining with Spencer to make the fourth-through-seventh spots in the order 9-for-14 with nine runs and nine RBI.
Federici gave up a leadoff single in the bottom of the first and issued five walks, but threw 3 2/3 scoreless innings as the starting pitcher.
Magdalinski got the last seven outs, without allowing a hit or walk, to pick up the win.
“My defense is always there for me,” said Magdalinski, who benefited from a double play in the seventh.
Magdalinski also drive in four runs when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the third, singled in two runs in the fourth and singled in another in the sixth.
Finarelli also drove in four runs – the game’s first on a single up the middle in the second, another on a fielder’s choice in the third and two more to get to the 10-run margin in the sixth.
“I really wanted to hit the ball today,” Finarelli said. “I hadn’t been doing too well the last few games, so I wanted to just put the ball in play and help the team out.
“ … It definitely feels good to be able to hit the runs in and have some RBIs on the day.”
Federici was credited with three runs scored by his courtesy runner Gavin Ruger. Finarelli scored twice.
Kyle Sincavage had two stolen bases.
Five of the Lake-Lehman stolen bases eventually resulted in the runner coming around to score. Another, by Connor Morgan in a first-and-third situation, drew a wild throw that allowed the lead runner to score on the error.
“We were able to get some good jumps off first,” coach Sincavage said. “We’re usually a pretty aggressive team.”
