SULLIVAN TWP. — For being relatively new to pitching, Seth Pluta is doing all right.
Seth Pluta
The ace was unhittable for long stretches, got out of a couple jams and, for good measure, belted a two-run home run Wednesday as the Black River baseball team pulled off a thrilling 4-3 win over Brookside.
While Travis Sexton scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch with two outs in the sixth inning of the Patriot Athletic Conference Stars Division game, everyone was talking about Pluta (1-0, 2.10 ERA).
“Pitching, it’s not my main thing. It’s a good addition for me,” said Pluta, who first took to the mound only 4-5 years ago. “It came late in my baseball career to me, so it’s different — definitely different.
“I’m not as experienced as the other guys. I’m just starting to get into striking out people multiple times, but it’s been a great experience.”
Pluta went the distance, allowing five hits and two walks while striking out 12 on 109 pitches. The junior, who has 16 punchouts in 10 innings on the young season, was perfect through three innings with a fastball-curveball-changeup combination and left the go-ahead run on second base in the critical sixth.
Pluta also unloaded on a 3-2 fastball from Cardinals southpaw Dudley Taw (0-1, 4.94 ERA) that put the Pirates (2-0, 1-0) ahead 3-0 in the bottom of the third.
“What more can you say about Seth Pluta?” first-year coach Jake Wright said. “He goes the distance for us, he hits a huge home run for us. I mean, there’s not a whole lot more you can say about that kid.”
Though Pluta had a big two-way performance, Brookside (1-2, 1-2), which upset two-time defending PAC Stars Division champion Keystone 24 hours earlier, fought back. A Taw RBI double and an RBI single by Travis Fortney (2-for-3, 2 RBIs) made the score 3-2, while another Fortney RBI single tied the game in the sixth.
Pluta didn’t immediately escape the latter trouble, walking Stephen Williams on four pitches, but he induced a grounder to shortstop Brandon Wine to keep the score knotted.
That set the stage for the bottom half of the inning, as Sexton and Jacob Campbell walked and pinch-hitter Jonathon Workman was hit by a pitch. The Cardinals then brought in hard-throwing reliever Tim Ackerman, who bounced an 0-2 pitch in the dirt.
The ball went to the screen and scrambling catcher Devin Houdeshell fired to Ackerman at home plate, but Sexton slid beneath a slap tag on a play that would have gone to instant replay in an MLB game.
“I saw the passed ball, I saw it hit the fence and didn’t think twice and went,” Sexton said. “I just made sure I was down, slid and got under the ball.”
Pluta went 1-2-3 in the seventh to finish a well-earned and well-played victory by Black River, which did not commit an error.
“I’ve been saying it,” Wright said. “We fought until the last out.”
Black River 4, Brookside 3
BROOKSIDE 000 201 0 — 3 5 0
BLACK RIVER 012 001 x — 4 3 0
WP — Seth Pluta (1-0) 7 innings, 3 earned runs, 2 walks, hit by pitch, 12 strikeouts. LP — Dudley Taw (0-1) 5⅔innings, 4 earned runs, 6 walks, 2 hit by pitches, 8 strikeouts. Brookside (1-2, 1-2) — Taw double, 2 runs; Travis Fortner 2 singles, 2 RBIs. Black River (2-0, 1-0) — Pluta home run, 2 RBIs.