Gateway baseball players look forward to summer season in WPBL

Last summer, a group of baseball players from Gateway High School and one from South Fayette formed the Monroeville Gators team in the Western Pennsylvania Baseball League.

The WPBL came about after the cancellation of the spring high school season because of the covid pandemic, and players from throughout the region, including many seniors who had their final varsity seasons taken away, were able to play one last series of games with their teammates and friends.

Gateway coach Mark Wardzinski said bringing back the Monroeville team this summer was well received, and plans were quickly generated after the conclusion of Gateway’s spring campaign.

“I am excited to see who can compete well,” said Wardzinski, who has put together varsity and junior varsity schedules with games from now through July 21.

Monroeville has varsity games scheduled against West Mifflin, Fox Chapel, Highlands, Norwin and Kiski Area.

Junior varsity games set are against Kiski Area, Highlands, East Allegheny and Jeannette.

“This gives a lot of the younger kids the opportunity to see varsity pitching and helps prepare them to possibly move up into varsity positions next year,” Wardzinski said. “We hope to play as many games as possible.”

Monroeville was to play West Mifflin in its opener June 3, but rain washed the game away.

With the Gateway school year coming to a close, the team didn’t have many opportunities to practice before starting the games. But with most of the team members still fresh from the spring season, Wardzinski said it wouldn’t take long to get ready.

“The guys are excited. They just want to get back on the field and start playing ball again,” said Wardzinski, who helped guide Gateway to a 6-4 record in Section 1-5A play and a trip to the WPIAL playoffs.

“It always was the plan to put this summer team back together. We knew that the kids have a lot of other things going on throughout the summer, whether it’s vacation, work or other travel teams. But we ended up getting 16 responses a couple of weeks ago, and it was a go.

“We had feelers out for teams to play before we got all of those positive responses.”

Wardzinski said more teams could be added to the schedule.

Gateway, paced by a group that included seniors Joe Schulte, Angelo Ross and Luke Jackson, along with junior Ryan Greggerson, sophomores Nate Demchak and Floyd McKenna, and freshman Taili Thompson, took Mars to the limit in the WPIAL first round before falling 4-3.

Gateway finished the spring season 7-7 overall.

This summer team features Schulte, Ross, Jackson, Greggerson, McKenna and Demchek, as well as 2021 graduate Justin Longo, rising seniors Joe Sides, Will Roper and Davin Roney; rising juniors Nolan Boehm, Brendan Ferri, Noah Colberg, Dante Laurenti and Bryce Neundorfer; and rising sophomore Lucas Demchak.

“That last game against Mars left the returning guys with that drive to go even further next year,” Wardzinski said.

“We’re only losing a few seniors, but we are lucky to have them for the summer season. It’s a good thing, even it is only 10 to 12 games, for the seniors to have one more chance to play together before moving on. Now also is the time to see who can do what leading into the fall and next spring to take the spot of those seniors.”

Wardzinski said he wasn’t sure how many teams are playing this summer, but an open tournament is slated to start late next month.

“There are really no set sections or divisions,” Wardzinski said. “You play as many games as you can before the playoff tournament. There might be a certain minimum amount of games that need to be played to be eligible for the tournament, but I don’t think that will be major issue.”