Penns Valley baseball coach impressed with team despite 8-2 playoff loss to Punxsutawney
Penns Valley baseball reached the state playoffs in the first year of Rich Sweitzer’s tenure as head coach.
The team traveled to DuBois to take on Punxatawney on Monday in the first round of the PIAA Class 3A playoffs, falling 8-2 to Punxsutawney. MaClain Welshans took the mound for Penns Valley as the starter with four strikeouts in 3.1 innings and allowed six hits, taking the loss. Welshans was eventually relieved by Kyle Niewinski, who had one strikeout in 1.2 innings and allowed two hits. Colby Sweitzer also pitched, tossing 1.1 innings and allowed no hits.
Punxatawney’s only hits allowed were to Dakota Brodzina on an RBI single to score Colby Sweitzer, a Miles Brooks RBI sing that plated Jarrett Stover and Malachi Thompson’s single. The Chucks added pressure on the Rams with eight hits. Issac London led Punxatawney by going 3-for-4 with four runs batted in. Starting pitcher Jake Sikora went 3-for-4 with an RBI, along with Peyton Hetrick tallying an RBI. Sikora pitched the first five innings, allowing two hits and one run as the winning pitcher.
For his team to get to the playoffs, they cleaned up their fielding. The Rams consistently worked at their craft, building a well-rounded team in the process. Sweitzer was impressed with his team’s ability to push further into the depths of their ability.
“We started to do a better job of catching the baseball in the field,” Rich Sweitzer said. “We started to hit together and piece things together more consistently at the plate, which led to runs. Our pitching was very strong this second half of the season. We got to the point where guys didn’t feel like they needed to strike everyone out. They started to pitch to contact more and got more ground balls and they played the ball behind them. That was the biggest difference.”
Penns Valley finished its season with an 11-13 record and earned their first trip to the District 6 Class 3A championship and the PIAA Class 3A playoffs for the first time in 27 years.
This story was originally published June 6, 2022 at 11:53 PM.
