STRUTHERS — The last time the Perry baseball team departed Cene Park in Struthers, it was on the losing end of a 6-0 district semifinal loss to Lakeview last spring.
The Pirates returned to Cene Park on May 20 with some unfinished business in mind — then they followed through with that business in demonstrative fashion.
Paced by an impressive offensive onslaught and a dominating pitching performance from Logan Buehner, Perry hammered Berkshire, 10-1, in a Division III semifinal game. The win puts the Pirates (20-6) in the district final on May 22 against LaBrae, a 9-0 winner over Columbiana Crestview in the other semifinal game on May 20.
Perry is looking to advance to the regional tournament for the first time since 2004, when the Pirates advanced to the state final four with a sophomore named Matt Platt on the pitching staff.
The same Matt Platt who is now the head coach of the Pirates.
“We haven’t been here in 20 years,” Buehner said of his team’s long-awaited berth in a district final game, “so it’s a very good mentality.”
Perry returned to Cene Park with the carbon copy lineup that it featured a year ago in the district semifinal loss. The difference this time? The bats came along for the ride.
Perry erupted for four runs in the first inning with the help of RBI doubles to the fence by Cade Henderson and Trent Taylor. Two more runs went on the board in the second inning with the help of Sam Tharp’s second-straight RBI hit in as many innings and a few Berkshire errors.
“Bulldog mentality,” Jason Pentek said of the mindset his team came to Struthers with this week. “That’s what coach always says — keep that bulldog mentality.”
The punishing Perry onslaught didn’t relent in the third inning, with Pentek and Henderson hammering RBI singles to open an 8-0 lead. The hot day at the plate (3-for-3 with two RBI) felt good for Pentek, who was the losing pitcher in last year’s district game.
“It was great for Jay,” said Platt, noting that Pentek has struggled with consistency at the plate this year. “What a night for him to finally break through. I’m so happy for him.”
Speaking of breaking through, Berkshire did so — mildly — in the third when Ethan Martin doubled in a run to make it 8-1. But the damage was already done, and Berkshire coach Nick Burzanko knew why. He said some errors hurt, but the biggest problem was a Perry lineup that just punishes the ball.
“We ballooned some innings because we didn’t make plays,” he said. “You can’t do that against a good team like Perry. One-through-nine — probably one-through-more-than-that — are very well-coached, disciplined and do the right things. That’s why the scoreboard looks like it does.”
While the Pirates were raking the ball all over the field, Buehner was dominating on the mound. He gave up only two hits before yielding to the bullpen in the seventh inning. He gave up only one run and struck out nine.
“I work harder (with a big lead),” he said. “I try to stay like it’s a 0-0 game. I pitched that way the entire game. … My fastball was pretty good and my slurve, I had a couple strikeouts with that.”
Despite the loss, Burzanko credited his team for going 14-9 and winning a share of the CVC Valley Division, the first time the Badgers have done that since 2015.
“This senior class has accomplished a lot,” he said, noting that the current seniors were on the regional-qualifying team when they were freshmen. “That’s a great year for anybody in my opinion. To take the next step is a testament to the seniors and hopefully a recipe for next year and years to come.”
Meanwhile, Perry focuses on the district final, set for a 6:30 p.m. start on May 22, in search of a regional berth they haven’t experienced since their coach was toeing the rubber for then-Coach Mike Ryan’s Pirates.
“We will have to compete every inning,” Pentek said. “We all have to lock in. It won’t be easy.”
THE SCORE
Perry 10, Berkshire 1