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WEST PITTSTON — Over the last 10 years, teams from the Wyoming Valley Conference have beaten up on Scranton Prep in the District 2 baseball playoffs.
The WVC had defeated the Cavaliers eight times entering this season, while Prep had only won twice in that span.
On Tuesday, Wyoming Area was looking to make it nine victories for the conference over the Cavaliers in the last 11 years. But Prep starting pitcher Jonathan Martens had other plans.
Martens took a no-hitter into the sixth inning before being lifted without giving up a hit and led sixth-seeded Scranton Prep to a 3-1 upset victory over the third-seeded Warriors in the District 2 Class 4A Quarterfinals at Atlas Field.
“The last couple years haven’t been good to us,” Scranton Prep coach Mark Seitzinger said. “Wyoming Valley Conference teams have taken it to us. So it felt good to come down here. It feels really good to get this win.”
Martens got ahead of hitters, but had some control issues as he walked six and hit a batter, while striking out three. Despite putting runners on base, he got outs when he needed them most.
In the fourth inning, the Warriors had a pair of runners on base with walks and one out, but a groundball double-play ended the threat.
“He had a gameplan today – to throw strikes and he did that,” Seitzinger said. “He had a few walks, but he didn’t give up any hits and our defense played really, really well behind him. Pitching-wise, this is the best game Jonathan threw all season.”
In the sixth inning, pitching with a 3-0 lead, Martens hit a batter and walked another to start the stanza before being pulled. Two batters later, Dillon Williams singled in a run for the Warriors’ only hit. They got runners on second and third with one out, but couldn’t cross the plate again.
“When we’re able to get through that with men at second and third in the sixth inning and we can get through that … you feel a lot more at ease,” Seitzinger added.
Lefty starter Toby Hallman gave up just three hits in 4 2/3 innings for the Warriors.
For the second start in a row, it was one inning that doomed Hallman. He had a stressful fifth inning when the Cavaliers sent eight batters to the plate and scored two runs on just one hit. In the frame, the Cavaliers drew four walks, including two with the bases loaded to take a 2-0 lead. Hallman was taken out before the second walk forcing in a run. On the afternoon, Hallman struck out eight and walked six.
“I thought he was dominant again,” Warriors coach Rob Lemoncelli said. “Some things could have gone either way, but that’s baseball.”
The Warriors weren’t expected to be the No. 3 seed in the district tournament. That’s credit to the seniors on the roster, Lemoncelli said. And the future looks bright, because only four seniors played in the game on Tuesday.
“I couldn’t be more proud of the seniors. They’re going to go on and be successful outside of the baseball field. They really put the work in and left the team in good hands,” Lemoncelli said. “Our program is headed in the right direction. This is year two. It takes time to build. We had to get used to the kids. They had to get used to the way we do things. We were better in year two than we were in year one, and I expect the upward trend to continue.”
Scranton Prep advances to Friday’s semifinals where they will play second-seeded Valley View.
District 2 Class 4A quarterfinals
Scranton Prep 3, Wyoming Area 1
Scranton Prep`AB`R`H`BI
Granet 2b`4`0`2`1
Valvano c`2`1`0`0
Cimini ss`3`0`0`0
Kohut 1b` 4`0`0`0
Landzendorfer lf` 3`0`1`1
Sorensen dh`3`0`0`1
Martens p`0`0`0`0
Mancuso cf`2`0`0`0
Grady rf`3`1`0`0
Blake 3b`2`1`0`0
Totals`26`3`4`3
Wyoming Area`AB`R`H`BI
Coolbaugh cf`4`0`0`0
Petrucci 1b `0`1`0`0
Kelleher c`2`0`0`0
Graham 3b`2`0`0`0
Hallman p`0`0`0`0
Williams dh`3`0`1`1
Nossavage lf`0`0`0`0
Yochem rf`3`0`0`0
Angelella 2b`3`0`0`0
Wiedl ss`2`0`0`0
Elmes lf`1`0`0`0
Hood p`1`0`0`0
Totals`21`1`1`1
No extra-base hits
Scranton Prep`000`210`0` —`3
Wyoming Area`000`001`0`—`1
Scranton Prep`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Martens (W) `5.0+`0`1`1`6`3
Cimini `2.0`1`0`0`2`1
Wyoming Area`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Hallman (L) `4.2`3`2`2`6`8
Hood`2.1`1`1`0`1`2
