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Bellefonte baseball downs Somerset for District title

By BILL ALBRIGHT

Express Sports Writer

ALTOONA, Pa. — The Bellefonte Red Raiders baseball team successfully defended their District VI AAAA title with a 1-0 victory over top-seeded Somerset Wednesday afternoon at PNG Field.

For the Red Raider baseball team beginning with the 2015 season, the more things changed, the more they stayed the same.

There have been different head coaches, the Raiders have played in two different PIAA classifications and as is the case with high school teams, players have come and gone. The district title victory is their fourth in the past five years.

“When I took over the program last year, the one thing I knew was that Bellefonte baseball has a tremendous tradition,” said Bellefonte head coach Jon Clark. “It started long before I came around. It has been there whether it was at the districts with Coach Robbie (Don Robinson) and coach (Denny) Leathers. Then came coach Jeremy Rellinger and Dan Fravel in there and that speaks well for the types of kids Bellefonte has and the quality of the coaches they had through the years. I am just fortunate to be able to come in and manage a great group of athletes. It is sometimes a little bit of a challenge when you have a lot of different personalities, but that is the fun part of coaching. When I took this job two years ago, my job was to just continue the tradition and I am hoping not to mess that up. When you have a good group of guys in a program, when they are faced with some adversities, they battle through them. I am very proud of this group and I am excited to try and keep things moving ahead.”

After leaving runners in scoring position throughout the first two innings, the Raiders finally got on the scoreboard for the game’s only run in the third.

Nick Capparelle started things with a base on balls, but Somerset pitcher Avery Heiple retired the next two batters and appeared to have an opportunity to get out trouble.

With some good heads up base running by Capparelle, he made his way to third and Bobby Marsh then legged out an infield hit, hustling to beat the Somerset first baseman in a tight play. During the play, Capparelle was able to find a way home to score what would be the game’s only run.

“That (Somerset) is a great team with a lot of seniors in the lineup,” said Clark. “Whether I was Athletic Director watching them a couple of years ago or last year when I became the coach, they are always well-coached. Lefties give us fits sometimes and that (Avery Heiple) is a heckuva pitcher. We worked on it the past couple of days in practice and I thought our guys responded well. There are obviously some things we need to improve on, but a 1-0 game, hey that is playoff baseball.”

While his teammates were completely controlling the game defensively, Raider righthander Ashton Wetzler had the Golden Eagles eating out of his hand.

Wetzler went the distance, scattering four hits, striking out 13 Eagle hitters while only walking one.

Going into the game and with his knowledge of the Golden Eagle hitters, Wetzler had a game plan, one batter at a time.

“I knew they had some guys in that lineup who could hit the ball well,” said Wetzler. “I had a good idea of which hitter could hit a certain pitch so the smart thing is not give him that pitch. I feel that my success today was my ability to move the ball around, in and out, up and down.”

Whether he used the fastball to set up the breaking stuff, or vice versa, Wetzler said it all depended on who was at the plate.

“I didn’t keep the same game plan for every batter,” he said. “Every time you face a batter it is a new situation. You can’t count on what he did the last time because his approach might change. You can’t just say that one guy can’t do this or that. The bottom line is that you have to execute.”

One area that the Raiders thrived on for most of the season was playing solid defense and Wetzler pointed out that it is good know that all of the players on the team have each other’s back.

“I throw some bad pitches and they (opponents) hit it around and the defense make some mistakes, but they always seem to respond by making plays when they have to stay out of trouble,” Wetzler said.

Clark knows what he has in his crafty righthander and he was quick to point out how rewarding it has been to watch Wetzler mature.

“I have only been around two years with Ash and I know he has pitched a lot of games, but today he pitched what I believe to be his best game,” praised Clark. “Not only was he hitting his spots and close to the (strike) zone all game, he was smart with and commanded his pitch count. He has gotten better as the year went on, he is our ace and he will continue to be our ace. I am really proud of him with the maturity he showed, especially controlling his pitch count.”

Although acknowledging success, Clark believes that Wetzler would be the first to point his finger to his catcher, Colton Burd, for controlling the plate behind the dish.

“I don’t believe Ash would have the success he is having if it weren’t for his catcher,” said Clark. “Burd has been here for four years now. He does an outstanding job of calling the pitches and he understands who our opponents best hitters are as to what they struggle with. You don’t have a great pitcher without a great receiver back there and I would be remiss if I didn’t point out the great job Colton has done back there this year.”

Bellefonte 1, Somerset 0

Bellefonte 001 000 0–1 4 1

Somerset 000 000 0–0 4 1

WP: Ashton Wetzler

LP: Avery Heiple

LOB: Bellefonte 8. Somerset 7.

Bellefonte: Colton Burd, 2-3.

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