Oh How Sweet. Rocky Grove Three-Peat. Orioles Claim Third D10 Baseball Title in as Many Years

| May 29, 2018


SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. (EYT) – – Three years ago, Rocky Grove had never won a District 10 (or 9) title in baseball.

(Rocky Grove manager Bill Wilson is showered with ice and water after the Orioles win Monday. Photo by Chris Rossetti)

Fast forward three years later, and the Orioles baseball team has now claimed three straight District 10 baseball titles and two in a row in Class 2A after a 10-0, six-inning blanking of Union City in the championship game at Slippery Rock University’s Jack Critchfield Park Monday afternoon.

“To win three in a row, it is probably never going to happen again with any school,” senior pitcher Travis Perry, who threw a no-hitter in the victory, said. “It’s very uncommon. You don’t get this group of seniors that we have come through as freshmen and just work so hard. This is what we wanted.”

Watch Perry’s final strikeout to win the game.

Perry, as he has been all through is fantastic high school career, was right in the middle of the action coming within two first-inning walks and a third-inning error of throwing a perfect game.

“I couldn’t ask for anything more,” Perry said. “I pretty much found the zone. Me and Boots (senior catcher Justin Heller) just worked on that low strike. I wasn’t throwing anything high today.”

Watch Perry’s full take on the victory and his performance.

While Perry was doing his talking with his arm, junior shortstop Tyler Knupp was shrugging off an illness to go 3-for-4 with a double and a triple, three runs scored, two stolen bases and two RBIs. Knupp was so much on fire Monday that even his one bad at-bat, a strikeout in the fourth, turned into him reaching first on a wild pitch and scoring later in the inning.

“I was just trying to do what I could do. That is pretty much it,” Knupp said. “It’s (winning the third title) unbelievable. I never thought we would be able to do that. We had a couple of players hurt. We just dug it out.”

Watch all of Knupp’s thoughts on the victory.

Rocky Grove wasted little time showing Union City that it meant business scoring twice in the top of the first inning and basically putting the game on cruise control from there.

“That (scoring early) always helps,” Perry said. “Home or away, we have to get those runs on the board no matter what. But it always helps when you are pitching to get those runs on the board (early).”

Knupp was right in the middle of the first-inning action tripling to deep left-center field with one out and scoring on Perry’s towering double to left that just kept carrying until it caromed off the wall. Perry then scored when Hunter Bruner reached on an error by the second baseman Blake Hornaman.

“We knew once we got a couple of runs on the board, we were set for the rest of the game,” Knupp said.

Rocky Grove wasn’t satisfied with two runs, though, as the Orioles tacked on three more in the second.

Scott Perry, Travis’ younger brother, led off the inning with a double to center, and an out later, Tyler Clayton ripped a double to left to make it 3-0. Heller was then hit by a pitch, and Knupp rocketed another hard-hit ball to left that ended up going for a two-run double that also saw Knupp go to third when the left fielder Jacob Uber couldn’t pick the ball up cleanly for an error to make it 5-0.

The Orioles continued to mash the ball in the third with two more doubles – this time from Conner Curran and Scott Perry – an error that allowed Clayton to reach and a two-run single by Heller that finally knocked Union City starter Shad Haskins from the game.

“I remember that kid starting against us the first game of the year,” Rocky Grove manager Bill Wilson said. “I think it was 2-0 in the fifth. He was planting everything on the outside corner, and the boys weren’t ready to hit that yet. This week, we worked the outside corner with the junk and the fastball all week and learned to hit it to right field. You guys saw the result. They bought into it. They worked hard on it all week.”

Nate Soliwada replaced Haskins, who went 2 ⅔ innings allowing eight runs, five earned, on eight hits and a hit batter while striking out two, and pitched much better limiting the Orioles to two run on three hits while striking out seven.

But the damage was already done with Perry cruising on the mound.

The Youngstown State recruit pitched six hitless innings allowing the two first-inning walks while striking out 10. He retired the final 12 batters he faced, seven by strikeout while striking out six of the final seven Union City batter he saw.

“This is the best I have seen him all year,” Wilson said. “He came ready. Ninety degrees is always going to be a pitcher’s friend. His arm looked like a piece of rubber today. Every pitch was effective. Today, he put it all together and pitched a gem.”

Wilson said Perry warmed up before the game a bit longer than he had been and the evidence was in a cleaner first inning than in past playoff games.

“He hadn’t been warming up as much as I thought he should,” Wilson said. “I have been joking with him all year about getting the first inning out of his system in the bullpen. He said, he did today.”

Rocky Grove gets its District 10 championship trophy.

Rocky Grove moves into the PIAA playoffs where it will face the third-place team out of the WPIAL, either Neshannock or Shenango, Monday, June 4, at a site and time to be determined.

Before the Orioles head into the state playoffs, though, Wilson took time to reflect on the third straight title.

“It’s pretty hard,” Wilson said of winning three in a row. “Coach Keith, one of my assistants, he said it to me earlier this year that he was talking to his brother one day and said winning two in a row is something you just don’t see every day. It’s such a difficult to thing to win a district title twice. But three, it’s just phenomenal. It all goes to the boys. They worked so hard. All of these men and their moms around here, taking these kids to tournaments, travel teams, league teams, everything that they have done to contribute. If you want to have a successful program, it is what you need to do. This guy, coach (Blaine) Gould (who is now an assistant at Redbank Valley who was there following the Orioles Monday) he was the one that raised them. He is the one that brought them up through clear up to Junior League, and he was with me a couple of years. That boy is a good coach. He is who made them what they are today.”

Union City also advances to the PIAA playoffs where it will face the WPIAL champion, either Serra Catholic or Cardinals Wuerl North Catholic.

ROCKY GROVE 10, UNION CITY 0, SIX INNINGS

Score by Innings

Rocky Grove 233 101 – 10
Union City 000 000 – 0

ROCKY GROVE – 10

At-Bats-Runs-Hits-RBIs
Justin Heller c 3112, Tyler Knupp ss 4332, Travis Perry p 4111, Hunter Bruner cf 4011, Conner Curran 1b 4121, Nick Sanner lf 3000, Scott Perry 3b 3221, Ryan Hanna dh 3000, Kolby Winslow 2b 0000, Tyler Clayton lf 3211. Totals 31-10-11-9.

UNION CITY – 0

At-Bats-Runs-Hits-RBIs

Andrew Hoban cf 3000, William Burgess rf 2000, Brayden Kinney 3b 3000, Alex Boylan dh 1000, Austin Jaquith ss 2000, Jamon Higley 1b 2000, Blake Hornaman 2b 1000, Lucas Thomas ph 1000, Shad Haskins p 1000, Nate Soliwada p 1000, Jacob Uber 2000. Totals 19-0-0-0.

LOB: Rocky Grove 4. Union City 3. Errors: Rocky Grove 1. Union City 3. 2B: S. Perry (2), Knupp, T. Perry, Bruner, Curran, Clayton. 3B: Knupp. SB: Knupp (2). Clayton. HBP: Heller by Haskins.

PITCHING

Rocky Grove

Travis Perry 6 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 2 BB, 10 K

Union City

Shad Haskins 2 ⅔ IP, 8 R, 5 ER, 8 H, 0 BB, 1 HP, 2 K
Nate Soliwads 3 ⅓ IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 0 HP, 7 K
Totals: 6 IP, 10 R, 7 ER, 11 H, 0 BB, 1 HP, 9 K

Winning pitcher: Travis Perry
Losing pitcher: Shad Haskins

Note: This story has been updated to reflect that Rocky Grove had never won a baseball title prior to three years ago. Not any title in any sport.


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