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HAZLETON — The first exhale came from the Hazleton Area bench.
Wyoming Valley West slugger Ryan Hogan put a charge into the sixth pitch he saw from Dante Biasi in the fifth inning, only to have it hook foul before it cleared the fence.
A second exhale came from the Spartans as pitch No. 7 of the duel was called ball three instead of strike three.
The built-up tension on both sides exploded with the eighth pitch. Hogan reared back and crushed another one over the high fence in right field.
Grand slam. Tie game.
Hogan’s shot charged up the Spartans, who shut down a potent Cougars lineup from there to prevail 5-4 in nine innings on Monday at Antinozzi Field.
Sophomore Justin Vought came through with the game-winning RBI single in the top of the ninth. Tyler Yankosky then escaped a jam in the home half, retiring Biasi on a grounder to seal the win in relief of seven strong innings from Bill Gregory.
Just like that, the Spartans (3-0 WVC) announced that they would definitely be top contenders for the conference and district crowns.
“It’s big, it’s big,” Hogan said. “Everyone doubts us. Everyone says Hazleton’s gonna roll over us. We were told when we played Coughlin the other day that we wouldn’t hit (against Hazleton), that Biasi’s gonna roll us.
“But we came out with a win. Billy pitched great. Timely hitting. And we got the win. A good win.”
That it was. The Cougars (2-1 WVC) returned a large portion of the lineup from last year’s Class 4A District 2 championship squad, one that edged the Spartans for the WVC Division 1 crown by one game in the regular season.
Now it’s Valley West that has the very early upper hand in this year’s race. It just took some time to get there.
Cougars leadoff man Dave Klein homered in his first two at-bats to make it 3-0 with a fourth run scoring on an error in the third. He finished 4 for 5 with three RBI.
“He crushed those two balls,” Cougars coach Gino Cara said. “He got back to midseason form today. Not because of the result, but because of his swing path. It was there today.”
With Biasi, the reigning league MVP on the hill, that would have been enough against most team.
But Mark Baran led off the fifth with a single for the Spartans. Logan Zavada and Chris Lupole later drew walks to load the bases with two outs.
That brought up Hogan, who had struck out and lined out his first two times up.
“I was just trying to drive something,” Hogan said. “My first at-bat, he jammed me on an inside strike and struck out. … Second at-bat, I had a better approach but lined out. Put a tough hit on it but it went right at him.
“I saw a pitch I could hit, high and outside. Just drove it like you do every time.”
It wasn’t immediately apparent that it was going to leave the park. Someone on Valley West’s side yelled, “Run it out!” in case the fly ball was dropped in the outfield.
It didn’t land in the outfield.
“I thought (the foul ball two pitches earlier), he hit better,” Spartans coach John Milius said. “I thought he got all of that one. The wind blew it sideways.
“The (grand slam), I was hoping, ‘Geez, just die down for a minute!’ “
It stayed well fair, and the Spartans had their spark.
Gregory (7 IP, 5 K) stranded two Hazleton runners apiece in the fifth and sixth and shook off a leadoff single in the seventh to send the game to extras.
Yankosky pitched the eighth and ninth and made sure the potential tying run was stranded at second base in the final frame.
Vought, Justin Montalvo and Logan Zavada all had two hits apiece for the Spartans.
Cara said he expects his group to regroup immediately for a non-conference game against a successful Parkland program, followed up by WVC game against Dallas this week.
“I like the fact that they expect that no one will beat them,” Cara said. “I actually very much like that. That’s their confidence level. But I just told them, if it’s gonna happen, it’s better now than it is on June 1.
“They will respond.”
Valley West 5, Hazleton Area 4
Valley West`AB`R`H`BI
Montalvo cf`4`1`2`0
Lupole ss`4`1`0`0
Hogan c`4`1`1`4
Raitter rf`0`0`0`0
Vought dh`4`0`2`1
Gregory p`5`0`1`0
Yankosky 1b-p`4`0`0`0
Baran lf`4`1`1`0
Popson 2b`1`0`0`0
Bayo ph`1`0`0`0
Techmanski 1b`0`0`0`0
Zavada 3b`3`1`2`0
Totals`31`5`8`5
Hazleton`AB`R`H`BI
Klein rf-cf`5`2`4`3
Baran cf-p`3`0`1`0
Pineda pr`0`0`0`0
Biasi p-1b`4`1`1`0
John c`4`0`0`0
Rogers 1b-rf`4`0`0`0
Panzarella ss`4`0`0`0
Budgeon lf-3b`4`0`1`0
Arias 3b`1`0`0`0
Cara dh`2`0`0`0
Heller p`0`0`0`0
Porpiglia 2b`2`1`0`0
Totals`33`4`7`3
Valley West`000`040`001`—`5
Hazleton`103`000`000`—`4
HR — Hogan, Klein 2
Valley West`IP`H`R`ER`BB`K
Gregory`7.0`5`4`3`4`5
Ynksky (W, 2-0)`2.0`2`0`0`0`2
Hazleton`IP`H`R`ER`BB`K
Biasi`6.0`5`4`4`2`6
Baran`2.0`1`0`0`1`6
Heller (L, 0-1)`3`1`1`0`0