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2015 PIAA State Championships Preview

June 12, 2015

By Jacob Gill
Philadelphia Region Director of Scouting

The March to Medlar concludes Friday with a quartet of state championship games on the Penn State campus. A primer on each match-up is below, listed in the order in which the games will be played (A at 9:30am, AAA at 12:30pm, AA at 3pm, AAAA at 5:30pm). Complete state tournament coverage follows the team write-ups. Follow @pbrpennsylvania (link above) on Twitter for updates throughout the day.

Class A

Lancaster County Christian Lions (23-4)
Head Coach: Chris Burns
Regular-season: Commonwealth Christian Athletic Conference champ
District III: beat West Shore Christian 15-0 (4 inn); beat Halifax 5-4 (8 inn); beat Millersburg Area 4-0
State: beat GAMP 7-0; beat Blue Ridge 11-1 (6 inn); beat Southern Fulton 5-2
Top Prospect: 2016 RHP Kyle Ebersole
Projected Pitcher: Ebersole
Who's Hot? In six post-season games, 2015 Jensen King is hitting .600, Ebersole is hitting .500, and 2015 Chandler Petersheim has reached base 13 times (6 H, 7 BB).

Casey VincentEisenhower Knights (15-3)
Head Coach: Cody Vincent
Regular-season: District X Region 4 champ
District X: beat West Middlesex 9-6; beat Rocky Grove 15-0
State: beat Clarion Area 10-0 (6 inn); beat Greensburg Central Catholic 3-2; beat Juniata Valley 3-1
Top Prospect: 2016 RHP Casey Vincent
Projected Pitcher: Vincent
Who's Hot? 2016 Louie Head (8-13, 6 R, 6 RBI), Vincent (6-14, 7 R, HR) & 2015 Kyle Hunt (6-16, 3 2B) have led the offense through the district and state tournaments.

Class AAA

Abington Heights Comets (18-3)
Head Coach: Bill Zalewski
Regular-season: Lackawanna Interscholastic Athletic Association Division 1 champ
District II: beat Lake-Lehman 10-0 (5 inn); beat Pittston 7-1; beat North Pocono 6-1; beat Valley View 4-3
State: beat Jersey Shore Area 1-0; beat Manheim Central 6-1; beat Pottsville Area 4-3
Top Prospect: 2015 RHP/IF Tyler Ksiazek
Projected Pitcher: Ksiazek or 2015 LHP Zach Manasek
College Commitments: 2015 IF Jimmy Fayocavitz (Misericordia), Ksiazek (Monmouth), Manasek (Arcadia), 2015 IF Matt McDonald (Scranton)
Who's Hot? Fayocavitz (6-16, 6 R, 3 BB, 3 HBP, 0 K, 7 SB) has two walk-off hits this post-season. 2017 Colin McCreary (6-16, 3 XBH, 7 RBI, 5 SB) has helped spark the offense, while 2016 Zach Campbell (11-24, 2 2B, 4 RBI), Ksiazek (8-20, 4 R, 2 2B), and 2015 Eric Salerno (8-19, 5 R, 3 XBH) are also swinging it well.

Alex StobertKnoch Knights (22-2)
Head Coach: George Bradley
Regular-season: WPIAL Section 5 champ
District VII: beat Belle Vernon Area 5-1; beat Blackhawk 4-3; beat Montour 2-0; beat West Allegheny 5-1
State: beat Punxsutawney 1-0; beat Montour 3-0; beat Donegal 8-2
Top Prospects: 2016 LHP Cole Shinsky & 2016 RHP Alex Stobert
Projected Pitcher: Shinsky
College Commitment: 2015 C Asa Adams (Baldwin Wallace), 2015 IF Chris Law (Seton Hill)
Who's Hot? Law, Adams, 2017 OF Dom Bucko, and 2016 OF Addis Crouch have helped power the offense of late. Stobert, who is unavailable for this game, had a streak of 20.2 scoreless post-season innings snapped in his state semifinal complete game effort.

Class AA

Nick D'AmoreNeumann-Goretti Saints (20-4)
Head Coach: Kevin Schneider
Regular-season: Philadelphia Catholic League runner-up
District XII: beat Archbishop Carroll 6-5; beat St. Joseph's Prep 12-2 (5 inn); lost to Archbishop Wood 3-2; beat MaST Community Charter 10-0 (5 inn)
State: beat Devon Prep 4-2; beat Camp Hill 5-1; beat Loyalsock Township 9-1
Top Prospects: 2015 LHP Pat Doudican and 2015 OF/3B Matt McKeown
Projected Pitcher: 2015 RHP Gino Tripodi or 2016 RHP Ethan Pritchett
College Commitments: 2015 SS Justin Curtin (Gwynedd Mercy), Doudican (College of Charleston), McKewon (Delaware), 2015 C Tommy Nardini (Gwynedd Mercy), 2015 OF Bay To (Fairleigh Dickinson), Tripodi (Gwynedd Mercy), 2015 2B Vinny Vaccone (Mercer County CC)
Who's Hot? 2016 3B Nicky D'Amore (5-15, 7 R, 3B, HR, 6 RBI), McKeown (6-19, 2 3B), 2016 OF Brian Verratti (7-18, 5 R, 3B, 7 RBI, 2 SB), and Vaccone (6-19, 6 R, 3 SB) have made their post-season marks.

Frankie FraschettiNeshannock Lancers (19-5)
Head Coach: Mike Kirkwood
Regular-season: WPIAL Section 5 co-champ
District VII: beat Waynesburg Central 7-0; beat Shady Side Academy 10-0; beat Steel Valley 10-2; beat Quaker Valley 4-0
State: beat Bellwood-Antis 1-0 (10 inn); beat Steel Valley 13-3 (5 inn); beat Quaker Valley 7-2
Top Prospect: 2016 RHP Frankie Fraschetti
Projected Pitcher: Fraschetti
College Commitments: 2015 1B Don Colucci (Slippery Rock), 2015 IF Ray Scala (St. Bonaventure)
Who's Hot? Scala, 2016 IF Richie Serignese, and 2015 IF Jeff Sanfilippo have consistently highlighted the box score during the playoffs. Colucci hit two homeruns in the state semifinal.

Class AAAA

Ryan HoganWyoming Valley West Spartans (17-1)
Head Coach: John Milius
Regular-season: Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 champ
District II: beat Wallenpaupack 14-0 (5 inn); beat Hazleton Area 4-1
State: beat Chambersburg Area 4-0; beat St. Joseph's Prep 2-1; beat Parkland 5-1
Top Prospect: 2016 C/OF Ryan Hogan
Projected Pitcher: 2015 RHP Billy Gregory
College Commitments: Gregory (Mansfield), Hogan (St. John's), 2015 SS Chris Lupole (King's), 2015 RHP Logan Zavada (Bloomsburg)
Who's Hot? Gregory (8-15), 2017 C Justin Vought (4-10, 7 R, 1 HR, 7 RBI), and Hogan (5-12, 5 R, 2 2B) have sparked the post-season offense.

Jared MeloneNorth Penn Knights (22-4)
Head Coach: Kevin Manero
Regular-season: Suburban One League Continental Division champ
District I: beat Hatboro-Horsham 9-3; beat Boyertown Area 14-6; beat West Chester East 4-0; lost to Council Rock North 4-2
State: beat Olney Charter 5-0; beat Pennsbury 2-1; beat Shaler Area 3-1 (8 inn)
Top Prospect: 2015 3B Jared Melone
Projected Pitcher: 2015 RHP James Witner
College Commitments: 2015 IF Anthony Cameron (Elizabethtown), 2015 IF Mike Christy (Bloomsburg), 2015 OF Logan Leslie (Penn State Harrisburg), Melone (La Salle)
Who's Hot? Not surprisingly, the four at the top of the order -- Christy (10-26, 8 R, 4 XBH), 2016 OF Alex Peterson (12-23, 9 R, 4 2B), 2016 OF Mason Nadeau (10-25, 6 R), Melone (10-22, 8 R, 3 XBH, 10 RBI) -- have been the top post-season run-producers.

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