Matt Wood started in left field his freshman season at Pine-Richland.
From then on, he never left the field.
Wood went on to start at catcher his final three seasons, helping the Rams win two WPIAL titles and leading the team in hitting the past two seasons.
As a senior this season, Wood batted .418 with a team-high 26 RBIs as the team’s leadoff hitter. His production allowed Pine-Richland to win the WPIAL Class 6A title while earning him Post-Gazette Class 6A Player of the Year honors.
“As good as he was as a freshman, sophomore and junior, I felt he took his game to another level this season. He was locked in every game,” Pine-Richland coach Kurt Wolfe said.
One of 11 seniors on the team, Wood, a Penn State recruit, also paced Pine-Richland with five home runs and an on-base percentage of .555. He reached base five times in a 7-2 win against Penn-Trafford in the WPIAL championship. Wood singled, tripled, drove in two runs, and walked three times. The Rams went on to advance to the PIAA quarterfinals.
Wolfe, who has coached at Pine-Richland for 21 years, raved about Wood’s leadership — “I told the guys I would never leave that guy’s side” — as well as his defensive talents.
“What makes him special is that he has a great arm and a great release,” Wolfe said. “Nobody is better at stealing a low strike as he is. The way he handles the bat is unbelievable. I never saw anybody with two strikes, just waste, waste, waste, and then when the pitcher makes a mistake, the next thing you know, after five strikes, he’s hitting one over the left-center field fence. He did that as well as anybody I’ve had.”
Wood made the Post-Gazette’s All-Area Team this season, just like another Pine-Richland catcher had 15 years earlier. Neil Walker was the Post-Gazette’s Player of the Year as a senior in 2004. He was selected by the Pirates in the first round of the MLB draft that year.
Class 5A
• J.J. Wetherholt, Mars, shortstop
It hasn’t taken Wetherholt long to assert himself as one of the WPIAL’s best players. A freshman starter on last year’s Mars team that reached the WPIAL final, Wetherholt spent his sophomore season developing into the team’s top hitter.
“He started out last year playing JV. After a few games we realized he was a special player and really needed to be in our lineup,” Mars coach Andy Bednar said. “Just his baseball sense as such a young kid is amazing. He’s a special kid and he’s only a sophomore.”
A sophomore who has already committed to a Big 12 school: Wetherholt is a West Virginia recruit. He hit .500 this season with an on-base percentage of .563 and OPS of 1.391. Batting third in the lineup, Wetherholt had 9 doubles, 4 home runs and 22 RBIs for Mars, which reached the WPIAL semifinals.
“We struggled at the plate a little bit. Later in the season, teams tried to pitch around him. Even as they were pitching around him, every little mistake they made, he really took advantage,” Bednar said. “Just his eye for the ball and just how fast his hands are. We’ve never had anybody like that.”
Class 4A
• Jarett Bach, Yough, pitcher
There were some outstanding players in Class 4A, but Bach was the best of the batch.
A 6-foot-4 senior left-hander, Bach dominated opposing hitters while helping Yough win a section title and reach the WPIAL semifinals. No player in the WPIAL had more strikeouts. He averaged more than two strikeouts per inning in the regular season, fanning 87 in 41 innings. He went 6-0 with one save and gave up only 16 hits and three earned runs, allowing him to boast a sparkling 0.51 ERA. Bach struck out 16 in a win against Albert Gallatin.
His numbers in the playoffs weren’t quite as dominating, yet still extremely impressive. He went 1-1 with a 0.68 ERA and had 25 strikeouts in 20⅓ innings.
“He hides the ball well and his ball moves well. And with his velocity, if you’re sitting off-speed, he can blow one past you. And if you’re waiting on a fastball, he’ll get you with a good off-speed,” said Yough coach Craig Spisak.
Bach was no slouch at the plate, batting .333 with 10 RBIs and 10 runs scored during the regular season.
Bach will play at Pitt. His sister, Hannah, plays softball for the Panthers.
Class 3A
• Jake McGovern, Hopewell, pitcher/outfielder
McGovern was McGreat, serving as the top pitcher and leading run producer for a team that reached the WPIAL Class 3A final and the second round of the PIAA playoffs. A junior left-hander, McGovern wasn’t even projected to be the No. 1 pitcher this year, but moved into the spot and thrived. He went 8-1 with a 1.46 ERA and struck out 45 in 57 ⅔ innings. He surrendered more than four hits in just one outing.
“We had another player who had an injury and went down. I don’t know if [Jake] expected to be our No. 1 guy,” Hopewell coach Mike Shuleski said.
As Hopewell’s No. 3 hitter, McGovern hit .377 with 27 RBIs and scored 17 runs. He had an on-base percentage of .463 and OPS of 1.144.
“It was a good season and a consistent season,” Shuleski said, “and I think that’s pretty important when you look at the big picture and see it wasn’t up and down, decent one day and down the next.”
McGovern is a three-year starter in three sports — baseball, basketball and football. He led the basketball team in scoring last season.
Class 2A
• Mark Black, Serra Catholic, catcher
Pitch it to Black and you might never get it back. That was the dilemma for teams facing Serra this season, with “Black Outs” becoming very common. His 14 home runs tied for the most by a WPIAL player since 2000. But the huge homer total was just one of the many statistics that stood out during his memorable season.
A junior catcher, Black batted .507 to go along with 44 RBIs, 30 runs scored, and 18 stolen bases. Of his 36 hits, 26 went for extra bases. He also drew 31 walks, 24 of them intentional. Intentional walks became a common theme in the postseason, yet Serra still advanced to the WPIAL and PIAA championship games. In 30 plate appearances in the playoffs, Black was intentionally walked 18 times.
Black, a St. John’s recruit, could be an early-round pick in next year’s MLB draft. In addition to his offensive talents, Black threw out 12 of 16 players attempting to steal.
“He’s the best player I’ve coached in 22 years,” Serra coach Brian Dzurenda said. “He’s a professional in every approach. He works harder than anybody I’ve ever seen.”
Class 1A
• Jacob Swartz, California, pitcher/catcher
Swartz already had the reputation of being an outstanding player coming into the season, but this senior took his game to another level this spring.
“This year, he pretty much took over,” California coach Lou Pasquale said. “We sat down before the season and I said, ‘Listen, this is your team.’ He took the reigns and went with it.”
Swartz led California to its second WPIAL title in three seasons and to the PIAA quarterfinals by producing a terrific two-way campaign. Swartz, a right-hander, boasted a 7-0 record and 1.99 ERA. He had 53 strikeouts and walked 14 in 49 ⅓ innings. Swartz started at catcher in the WPIAL championship, but came on in relief in the seventh and recorded the save.
Offensively is where Swartz made his biggest strides, Pasquale said. Swartz hit .463 with 11 RBIs and scored 31 runs. He also drew 28 walks. A three-year starter, Swartz’s on-base percentage was .681 and his OPS was 1.241.
“He probably increased his average by a couple hundred points,” said Pasquale. “He consistently threw strikes throughout this career. But this year I was more impressed with his offense.”
Brad Everett: beverett@post-gazette.com and Twitter @BREAL412.
First Published: June 28, 2019, 11:00 a.m.
