HERSHEY -- For one final time, the South Western baseball team's nine seniors and their coach huddled in shallow left field.

The Mustangs' precedent-shattering season had ended minutes earlier. A few offensive miscues had been enough to doom South Western to a 3-2 loss Thursday to Owen J. Roberts in a PIAA Class AAAA quarterfinal at Hershey High School.

After the team held its regular, postgame chat, Mustangs coach Mike Resetar gathered his seniors for a few final words.

"He just called us in and got real emotional," senior third baseman Pat Shannon said. "He just told us to remember all the good times."

That final meeting offered perspective. Those seniors -- many of whom played starring roles on this year's team -- led South Western to its first District 3 final and first state playoff appearance. They helped the Mustangs claim a YAIAA title in May.

And yet ...

South Western (18-7) could have easily been the one celebrating Thursday. The Mustangs squandered two golden scoring opportunities: A two-on, no-out situation in the fifth, and a bases-loaded, one-out scenario in the sixth. In each case, Owen J. Roberts escaped with the lead.

Those near-misses, along with a pair of long home runs from Wildcats center fielder Jeff Wiand, ultimately sank South Western.

"We knew we had to score five or six runs to win today," Resetar said. "If we would have, we would have (won)."

Pitching certainly wasn't the issue for the Mustangs Thursday.

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Owen J. Roberts (24-4) had scored 16 runs in a first-round trampling of Pleasant Valley Monday, but was held in relative check by South Western pitchers Dave Walker and Eric Moul.

Problem was, the Mustangs' bats never heated up. South Western managed one extra-base hit: A solo homer by Shannon in the second.

South Western had its chances, though.

It started the fifth inning with a walk and a single. But Bryce Burkentine struck out trying to bunt over those runners, and on strike three Owen J. Roberts catcher Steve Piskai threw down to second to pick off first baseman Matt Hockenberry for an unorthodox double play.

Piskai also picked off a South Western runner at second with one out in the first.

"They were really big," said Wildcats coach Greg Gilbert, whose team will play Lower Dauphin on Monday in a semifinal. "(Piskai) doesn't have a cannon-arm, but he gets rid of it fast."

Wiand, who will play at Lehigh next year, mashed his second solo home run in the bottom of the fifth to give Owen J. Roberts a 3-1 lead. Wiand went 3-for-3 and had all three of the Wildcats' RBIs.

South Western still pieced together a rally in the sixth. Shannon singled home a run and South Western loaded the bases with one out, but Wildcats reliever Tim Ponto struck out Hockenberry and designated hitter Evan Pickett to end the threat.

"We couldn't get that clutch hit we needed," Shannon said. "We struggled with that all season."

Ponto threw 38 pitches in the sixth inning alone, but needed only nine to breeze through South Western's lineup in a 1-2-3 seventh.

So ended the Mustangs' postseason run. But before the team boarded its bus to head home, Resetar made sure his seniors knew how he felt about them.

"I'm an emotional guy," Resetar said. "A lot of those guys have played varsity since they were sophomores. They've just done everything we've ever asked.

"Never in our wildest dreams at the beginning of this year did I dream we'd be able to get to this point."

jclayton@ydr.com; 771-2045

  

at Hershey H.S.
OWEN J. ROBERTS 3,
SOUTH WESTERN 2
So. Western  010 001 0 -- 2 6 0
O.J. Roberts  101 010 x -- 3 6 2

   OJR, Dave Vining, Tim Ponto (6) and Steve Piskai; SW, Dave Walker, Eric Moul (5) and Ben Zimmerman. SO-BB -- Vining 5-1, Ponto 3-2; Walker 5-4, Moul 2-0. W -- Vining. L -- Walker. 2B -- OJR, Jeff Wiand, Dave Raifsnider. HR -- OJR, Wiand 2; SW, Patrick Shannon.