STATE COLLEGE — For the first time in a long time, Abington Heights didn’t have an answer.
Fifteen straight wins. Eight in the postseason. Two via walk-offs.
Friday, a three-run deficit was answered with a three-run rally.
But Knoch snapped the run.
The Knights scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, Cole Shinsky capped a complete game with a quick seventh inning and Knoch beat Abington Heights 7-5 in the PIAA Class AAA baseball championship at Penn State’s Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.
“We knew they were a great team,” Abington Heights coach Bill Zalewski said. “We knew they battled the whole game and so did we.”
Abington Heights (18-4) jumped out to an early lead, with Zach Spangenberg lining a two-out, two-run single in the second inning to open the scoring.
Knoch (23-2) answered, scoring four runs in the bottom of the inning with a rally aided by an Abington Heights error.
Two singles and a walk loaded the bases with no outs against Comets starter Zach Manasek, and Knoch pushed across its first run when Addis Crouch reached on an error. With one out, Dominic Bucko worked a walk to force in a run and Shinsky followed with an RBI single to give Knoch a 4-2 lead and force the Comets to go to the bullpen. Ryan Harvey came in and worked out of the jam.
Knoch added a run the next inning, when Garrett Traggiai singled in a run with one out to push the lead to 5-2.
That time, Abington Heights had an answer.
Matt McDonald was hit by a pitch to start the fourth inning and with one out, Jimmy Fayocavitz reached on an error. Shinsky retired the next batter, but Zach Campbell kept the inning alive with an RBI single to right-center field.
“It’s always nice to get a rally like that going, especially when you’re down and then come back like that,” Campbell said.
Tyler Ksiazek then lined a sinking line drive to center field. Bucko attempted to make a diving catch, but the ball got down and rolled past him. Two runs scored to tie the game 5-5, and Ksiazek coasted into third with a triple, one of his three hits on the day.
“I was excited to get on base and knock in some runs for my team,” Ksiazek said. “I just wanted to make contact. I was seeing the ball well today. Kid (dived) for it, it got down, and I didn’t stop until third base.”
Ksiazek, who pitched a complete game in the Comets’ semifinal win over Pottsville on Monday, came on to pitch in the fourth inning, and retired six of the first seven hitters he faced.
“He’s been there for us all year, him and Zach (Manasek) both,” Zalewski said. “They threw their hearts out today. You can’t ask for anything more from being a coach.”
A passing shower brought the tarp onto the field after the end of the fifth inning and the game entered into a rain delay.
“We’ve got to come back from that kind of stuff because it’s nothing we can control,” Zalewski said. “I think our energy was good right out of the delay. Just a couple bounces didn’t go our way.”
Ksiazek retired the first two batters of the bottom of the sixth and got to two strikes on Bucko. But the lefty hit a towering fly ball to the base of the wall in right field for a triple.
Chris Law broke the tie with a soft grounder through the middle that scored Bucko and, after Law swiped second, Shinsky drove him home with a bouncing ball through the left side of the infield. Knoch led 7-5, and the Comets needed a rally.
But while Shinsky started out shakily — Abington Heights loaded the bases in the first two innings and had multiple runners on base in the first four — the tall southpaw closed strongly.
He retired nine of the last 12 batters he faced. Two of the three that reached were hit by pitches, and the third was picked off first to end the sixth.
“He mixed his pitches,” Zalewski said. “He started, in the later innings, started getting his change-up over a little bit more. Throwing that breaking ball for a bit of a strike. He started changing his moves to first a little bit, which kind of got us in a little bit of trouble there at the end.”
Shinsky got the first two outs of the seventh inning quickly and, after one of those hit batters reached, clinched the championship for Knoch by inducing a pop-up into foul territory.
Shinsky allowed two earned runs on eight hits, walking three and striking out three.
“They were a very good team,” Ksiazek said. “They played a tough game. Caps off to them. They finished it off. They were well coached. Their pitcher threw a great game. Just made a couple more plays than we did today.”