Lake-Lehman’s three busiest pitchers are all rested and ready to go.
Dylan Wesley had pitched in all four postseason games before the Black Knights finished off Science & Leadership Academy from Philadelphia early in Thursday’s state quarterfinal, eliminating the need for their closer.
Freshman Ty Federici has started all five playoff games going into Tuesday’s PIAA Class 3A baseball quarterfinal against Notre Dame Green Pond (22-5) at Pottsville at 4:30 p.m.
Middle man Alex Magdalinski has relieved in six straight games, going back to a win over Dallas in a meeting of Back Mountain rivals and Wyoming Valley Conference divisional champions before each went on to win District 2 championships.
Monday’s postponement allowed Lake-Lehman’s pitchers an extra day of rest, but it also reduces the hopes of coach Len Sincavage being able to manage the pitch counts enough to keep them available for a potential Thursday state championship game.
Federici and Wesley have appeared in 13 games each for Lake-Lehman (21-3) while Magdalinski has been increasingly busy lately, giving him 10 appearances on the mound.
While Federici racks up strikeouts and limits hits, but does yield walks, Magdalinski and Wesley counter giving up more hits with their superior control.
Federici has worked between two and 4 1/3 innings in his playoff starts, producing an ERA of 0.88 by giving up just three runs (two earned) on nine hits. He has struck out 19 and walked 14 in 16 innings.
For the season, Federici has a 1.55 ERA with team-highs of 40 2/3 innings and 53 strikeouts.
Magdalinski has 13 strikeouts and just one walk in 13 1/3 postseason innings. He has posted ERAs of 3.38 in the playoffs and 2.96 for the season.
Wesley has 23 strikeouts and two walks in 27 innings on the season while putting together a team-best 1.30 ERA. He has given up one run in 4 2/3 innings (1.93) during the playoffs.
“Ty and Alex were both effective,” Sincavage said after the state quarterfinal win. “That’s all we need. We need Ty to give us three or four innings, then have Mags come in and we didn’t even have to use Dylan.
“We’ll have everybody rested.”
The pitchers have been getting plenty of support.
The potent Lake-Lehman offense, which got hits from eight of nine starters in the 11-0, six-inning rout of Science & Leadership, has a .348 batting average. The Black Knights have six players with batting averages between .423 and .356.
Again, Federici leads the way.
Federici leads the team in average (.423), doubles (10) and RBI (26).
Luke Spencer is batting .420 and shares the team lead with 31 runs scored.
Connor Morgan is batting .395.
Kyle Sincavage has a .348 average, has also scored 31 runs and has two triples.
Max Paczewski has a .362 average while Nick Finarelli is at .356.
Catcher C.J. Cercone, the only senior starter, is the only Black Knight with two homers.
Lake-Lehman has won 13 of its last 14 games.
Notre Dame is on a 15-game winning streak.
The teams have one common opponent.
Notre Dame shut out Wyoming Seminary, 8-0, in the state quarterfinals.
Lake-Lehman won two of three from the Blue Knights. The teams split one-run games in the regular season before the Black Knights won the District 2 championship game, 5-3.
The winner advances to the state final against either District 6 champion Mount Union or District 10 champion Franklin. The final is set for Thursday at 4 p.m. at Penn State.
