Avonworth Varsity Baseball finished off the regular season with a 3-2 road win over 5A powerhouse Pine-Richland Thursday, May 8th. Mason Metz and Jack Dolan had two hits each, while Cooper Scharding (2.2 IP, 0 runs, 0 hits) and Carson Franc (4.1 IP, 2 runs, 4 K, 1 BB) made a rare joint appearance to stifle the Rams from the mound.

The Lopes packed their runs into the top of the third. Dolan’s hard grounder down the first base line hit the bag and leaped into right field for a double, scoring Scharding to make it 1-0. The Lopes made it 2-0 when Alex Rowe reached on an error, scoring Metz, and Franc roped a single to left to score Dolan to run the score to 3-0.

Pine-Richland pitching tightened up after that, and their defense turned several well-hit balls into loud Avonworth outs. Meanwhile, the Rams were getting on base, but couldn’t convert until the bottom of the 5th, when a deep sac fly to center made it 3-1. The Lopes found themselves in trouble in the bottom of the 6th when some 2-out lightning in the middle of the Rams order put runners on first and second. A double to deep left scored one runner, but with the trailing baserunner bearing down on Metz at home, leftfielder Rowe got the ball into shortstop Declan Ehrin, whose perfect throw home cut down the runner to keep the score 3-2, where it would remain.

With the win, the Lopes finish the regular season at 17-3, with a section championship and well-founded hopes for a high seed in the WPIAL playoffs.