Riverside Defeats Burgettstown In WPIAL Consolation Game, Looks Forward To PIAA Playoffs

The Riverside Panthers rallied back from a 4-0 deficit Tuesday and collected a 6-4 victory over Burgettstown in the WPIAL Class-3A consolation game at the Ross Memorial Field at the W&J Sports Complex in Washington.

Riverside (16-6 overall) will next move onto the PIAA 2A Playoffs to face District 6 champion Mount Union on Monday.

On Tuesday, Riverside nabbed the lead late in the game for its 6-4 victory over Burgettstown. The game was tied at four in the fifth inning when Ashton Schlosser singled on the first pitch of the at bat, scoring the game winning run.

In the first inning, Burgettstown got their offense started and jumped out to an early 2-0 lead aided by a AJ Kuzior RBI double on a 3-1 count.

The lead ballooned to a 4-0 advantage before the Panthers could get on the board.

After scoring three times in the bottom of the third, Riverside knotted the game up at four in the bottom of the fourth inning when Madden Boehm drew a walk, scoring the game’s tying run.

Christian Lucarelli earned the win for Riverside. The pitcher went four and two-thirds innings, allowing two runs on four hits and striking out nine. Boehm and Hunter Garvin entered the game out of the bullpen and helped to close out the game in relief. Garvin recorded the last two outs to earn the save for the Panthers.

Nathan Klodowski took the loss for Burgettstown. The hurler allowed six hits and five runs over four innings, striking out two.

Riverside racked up nine hits on the day. Darren McDade (1 3b, 2 RBIs), Bo Fornataro (2 SBs), and Sean Hayes each racked up multiple hits for the Panthers. Burgettstown racked up six hits in the game. Kuzior and Eric Kovach all managed multiple hits for Burgettstown.

Riverside had previously fallen to #1 seeded Serra Catholic 6-5 in the semifinals last week. Serra Catholic went on to defeat #7 seed Neshannock 8-2 Tuesday at Wild Things Park in Washington, PA for the WPIAL Class-2A Championship.

The last time Riverside qualified and reached the PIAA Playoffs was 2017 when the team reached the 3A quarterfinals.