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Hazleton Area wants to take the next step

Famed jockey to appear at Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono

Key losses to deal with at the beginning of the season. Long layoffs to deal with at the end. Year-in and year-out, Wyoming Valley West has found ways to beat both.The area&#8217;s most consistent baseball program is right back in the PIAA tournament, preparing to face Chambersburg in the Class 4A first round at 4 p.m. today at Pittston Area&#8217;s field in Hughestown.For the Spartans, it&#8217;s been much of the same formula that has brought them six District 2 titles in the last 10 seasons under coach John Milius and five trips to states. And it starts with an impressive pitching staff.In that stretch, Casey Mulligan, Chris Pollick, Tommy Alexander, Matt Zielen, Dan Flaherty and Chris Nixon have made starts in the state tournament after strong regular seasons.This year&#8217;s group featured starters Billy Gregory, Logan Zavada and Tyler Yankosky all turning in ERAs under 1.50. Ryan Hogan didn&#8217;t allow an earned run in two appearances out of the bullpen.In fact, during the Wyoming Valley Conference season and District 2 tournament, the Spartans only had to go to the pen five times in 15 games en route to 14 wins and the district title.&#8220;For most of them, this is their third year with me. They were thrown into the fire when they were sophomores,&#8221; Milius said of his pitchers. &#8220;And they&#8217;ve kept developing as the time goes on.&#8220;They weren&#8217;t content with where they were and wanted to get better. They&#8217;ve really worked at it the last two, three years.&#8221;Gregory has pitched all but one inning in Valley West&#8217;s last three games including a four-hit shutout to clinch the WVC title and a three-hitter with no earned runs to win the district crown last Monday.Now seniors, both Gregory and Zavada were sophomores when the Spartans last made it to states in 2013.&#8220;This was our No. 1 goal, to win a district title&#8221; and get back there, Gregory said after toppling defending champ Hazleton Area in the D2 finals. &#8220;Hopefully in the next four games, our second goal will come into play.&#8221;At the plate, Hogan hit just shy of .600 in WVC play and led the league in home runs and triples. He&#8217;s 2 for 4 with a double and an RBI in the playoffs as both opponents he faced elected to intentionally walk him with runners on base.Gregory and Yankosky have four hits apiece in the postseason while Mark Baron has three, including two doubles.In their way today is District 3 runner-up Chambersburg. The Trojans were the No. 10 seed in the extremely competitive D3-4A bracket and knocked off three straight higher seeds to reach their district title game.Chambersburg fell behind 6-0 early to Hempfield in that game last Thursday but rallied for five runs and put the go-ahead run on base in the late innings before finally falling.The Trojans are 15-9 overall on the season and had won five straight before the loss to Hempfield. Designated hitter Austin Suders and second baseman Drew Betz have led Chambersburg at the plate with Tristan Daywalt and Suders as the top options on the mound.Valley West, meanwhile, has only played twice since closing out the regular season back on May 12. But that&#8217;s nothing new for the Spartans, who haven&#8217;t looked very rusty in recent PIAA openers.Since losing in the first round to Cumberland Valley in extra innings back in 2007, the Spartans have won three straight opening games at states, beating the District 3 runner-up each time &#8212; Central Dauphin in 2009, Penn Manor in 2012 and Exeter Township in 2013.Valley West held an informal scrimmage against District 2 Class 3A champ Abington Heights on Thursday before ramping up practices over the weekend to get ready for this latest test.&#8220;They know what&#8217;s at stake,&#8221; Milius said. &#8220;They&#8217;re pretty focused. You just have to remind them that they&#8217;ve come this far, and you don&#8217;t want to get beat because you&#8217;re not prepared and lackadaisical.&#8220;We do our drills and execute and treat every game the same. Doesn&#8217;t matter if it&#8217;s the end of the season or the beginning. They&#8217;re focused.&#8221;

Wyoming Valley West ready for states baseball