In a seesaw affair with neighborhood rival North Hills, the North Allegheny baseball team outlasted the visiting Indians in extra innings, 6-5, to win game two of the three-game series.

 

Coming off a 10-0 victory in game one, the Tigers were hoping to continue their winning ways in the final week of section play. In contrast, the Indians, struggling through an injury-riddled campaign, were looking to snap an eight-game losing skid. North Hills got off to a good start in the top of the first inning when senior Ethan Guszczynski delivered an RBI single for a 1-0 lead.

 

North Allegheny quickly responded in the bottom of the first inning, when Mason Dratfinsky scored on a double steal to tie the game at 1-1. The Tigers took a 2-1 lead thanks to a two-out RBI single from Grant Huskey.

 

North Hills answered back in the top of the second inning thanks to an RBI double by Tino Volpe to knot the score at 2-2. Later in the inning, Volpe scored on a wild pitch to vault the Indians back in front, 3-2.

 

As was the trend in the early innings, the Tigers wasted little time in the bottom of the second and tied the contest on a leadoff home run by junior Dominic Williamson, his first of the season. Later in the inning, a two-out RBI single from Nate Fritz scored Gavin Ust to give NA a 4-3 advantage. In the bottom of the third inning, sophomore Ben Kern led off with a walk, stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a throwing error to grow the lead to 5-3.

 

With the help of two North Hills errors, North Allegheny was able to construct its two-run advantage through innings. However, sophomore southpaw Nate Strothers, who was making his first varsity start, settled into the game and retired seven in a row before exiting the game after the fifth inning. He struck out four batters with no walks, allowing five runs, two earned, in an impressive debut.

 

Strothers’ work on the bump allowed the Indians to regroup and ultimately tie the game in the late innings. An RBI single by Jake Jurgenson in the fifth inning cut the NA lead to 5-4, and when Guszczynski raced home on a wild pitch in the seventh, the contest was deadlocked at 5-5 and destined for extra innings.

 

Playing in their second extra-inning game of the season, North Allegheny prevailed, as it did earlier in the season against Central Catholic on April 15. In the bottom of the eighth, Williamson led off with a single and advanced to second base thanks to a one-out groundout by Carter Boehm. With two outs, Kern bounced a groundball to shortstop that was thrown errantly to first base, allowing Williamson to race home with a 6-5 walk-off win for the Tigers.

 

Going 2-for-4 with a home run and two runs scored, including the game winner, Williamson was named the Wright Automotive Player of the Game.

 

NA lefthander Jude Swartz earned the win with 1.2 scoreless in relief, striking out three batters with no walks. North Hills’ Ty Pollaro suffered the loss, going 2.1 innings and surrendering one unearned run.

 

Winners of eight of its last nine games, North Allegheny improves to 11-5 overall and 8-3 in the section. Meanwhile, North Hills drops its ninth straight contest, falling to 2-15 overall and 1-10 in the section. Despite the win, the Tigers’ section title hopes were dashed when Butler beat Seneca Valley earlier in the day. Locked into the No. 2 spot in the section standings, North Allegheny will look for the series sweep against North Hills on Thursday.