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Riverside bats adjust to South Park ace to advance to the PIAA baseball championship
HARMONY — Back on May 23, Riverside and South Park matched up in the WPIAL 3A semifinals, with South Park junior pitcher Cooper Hochendoner having his way with the Riverside bats.
But when the two teams met again on Tuesday, June 10, in the PIAA semifinals, Riverside (20-2) made adjustments and got to Hochendoner, defeating the Eagles 4-1 to punch its second ticket to the PIAA championship game in three years.
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Riverside head coach Dan Oliastro knew his team wasn't ready for Hochendoner the first time around as the hard-throwing southpaw went 9 ⅓ innings while compiling 14 strikeouts.
After putting in substantial work using a pitching machine at high velocity, the Panthers struck out only seven times to the South Park (17-8) ace while collecting six hits, with four coming from Zach Hare and Dylan Meyer.
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'With the work that we put in practice on the machine, I knew what we were going to get facing him [Hochendoner] a second time around,' Hare said. 'I knew that he likes to get ahead early, so I just wanted to put a short and quick swing on the ball.'
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Throughout the PIAA playoffs, Meyer has come up clutch in the bottom third of the order for Riverside, tallying five hits and four RBIs across two games.
Riverside shortstop Dylan Meyer (1) reacts after driving in his RBI of the game during the PIAA Class 3A semifinal game between South Park and Riverside at the AHN Baseball Complex in Harmony, Pa. on June 10, 2025.
Against South Park, he came up big again going 2-for-3 with two big insurance RBIs in the second and fourth innings.
'I just love my team to death and want it as much as they do, so I just try my best to go out there and put a good swing on the ball each time,' Meyer said.
To pair with the strong timely hitting, Riverside ace Christian Lucarelli made his second start of the PIAA playoffs after pitching a three-hit shutout against Huntingdon in the opening round.
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The senior Duke signee shook off a shaky start to the game after throwing around 60 pitches in three innings.
After allowing an unearned run in the third inning on a sacrifice fly, Lucarelli set down eight of the last nine batters he faced in his final three innings.
Riverside pitcher Christian Lucarelli (10) gets set to release a pitch during the PIAA Class 3A semifinal game between South Park and Riverside at the AHN Baseball Complex in Harmony, Pa. on June 10, 2025.
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Lucarelli finished the day throwing six innings, allowing an unearned run on two hits, two walks and six strikeouts.
'I felt like I was in control the whole game, so I just needed to make a slight adjustment from the first three innings,' Lucarelli said. 'I didn't feel like I was too out of the game, so I just kept repeating to myself that I was in this game and never doubted myself. To take that extra step to get after it in the final three innings pushed me through.'
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Riverside will now take the familiar trip to Penn State's Medlar Field at Lubrano Park to face District IV champion Mount Carmel Area at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, June 12, as it will play for its sixth PIAA baseball championship.
'I feel like a little kid again,' head coach Dan Oliastro said. 'It is so much fun to go back there again, but you want to go back there and win.'
This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: PIAA 3A baseball semifinals: Riverside defeats South Park
