PIAA Class 5A Baseball: Bonner-Prendergast, Kevin McGonigle again stopped one step short of title game

HERSHEY — For the third time in as many years, Bonner & Prendergast was one win away from playing in a PIAA championship game.

That is a major accomplishment for any baseball team. Yet on Tuesday, the Friars couldn’t change the ending to their story.

The District 12 champs lost to Shaler High, 9-3, in the Class 5A semifinal round at Hershey High School. Bonner & Prendie lost one-run decisions in the Class 4A semifinals in 2021 and 2022.

Whereas the last two seasons ended in heartbreaking fashion, the Friars found themselves in a hole early and couldn’t match Shaler’s power-hitting pace Thursday. The Titans clubbed four home runs, including three in the second inning off Jaxon Kehoe, the Friars’ relief ace who earned his first start on the mound. Kehoe was sharp in the first inning, but Derek Leas smashed a solo shot to lead off the second. Two batters later, Connor Hamrick belted a two-run homer followed by a solo jack off the bat of Brady Alexander to give Shaler a 4-0 advantage.

“The wind was blowing out here a little bit and the field is not that big. They got some good swings on some balls,” Friars coach Steve DeBarberie said. “And I just felt like we didn’t command the zone early in the count and we fell behind too many counts. They just got their ‘A’ swing off and they were ready for it.”

Bonner couldn’t overcome the sizable early deficit, despite a strong performance from its lineup. The Friars collected 11 of their 13 hits against Shaler ace Miguel Hugas, who is bound for the University of Alabama. The right hander gave up three runs and struck out four in five innings.

The Friars had a chance for a big inning in the fourth, but a controversial call by the umpiring crew prevented that from happening.

With runners on first and second, Ryan Friel hit a shallow fly ball down the third-base line. Left fielder Brady Alexander tried to make a play on the ball, but he tumbled over the low fence in fair territory. The ball dropped, Friel sprinted into second base and Sergio Hernandez and Justin Shepherd came around to score. The Friars thought they had trimmed their deficit to 4-3. But the four umpires convened and ruled foul ball. DeBarberie, who had the best view at the play, angrily pleaded his case.

“I was right there, the ball was clearly fair,” he said. “It was a big moment in the game and it could have swung the momentum in our favor. It’s unfortunate.”

Friel popped out to end the threat. Austin Cannon crushed a solo home run earlier in the inning to get the Friars on the board.

Shaler responded with two runs in the bottom of the fourth off reliever Johnny Ortegae, who replaced Kehoe with one on and nobody out. Nine-hole hitter Colby Maguire smacked a single to drive home two to extend Shaler’s lead to 6-1

“(Hugas) is a very good pitcher, but I felt like we were on him,” said senior shortstop Kevin McGonigle, the Catholic League MVP and reigning Daily Times Player of the Year. “Sometimes when you face very good pitchers like that, you can back down a little, but I thought we got some swings. They just had the bigger hits. The long ball played a big part in this game.”

The Friars kept coming after Hugas. Trailing by five runs in the fifth CJ Nocella legged out an infield single and McGonigle laced a single to set up a first-and-third situation with one out. Irv Fisher hit a sinking fly past the reach of the right fielder Hamrick. Nocella scored easily, but McGonigle was thrown out on a bang-bang call at home. Cannon knocked in Fisher with his third hit of the game, cutting Shaler’s lead to 6-3.

“We started off good, we were hitting the ball and everything,” Cannon said. “We had a couple of errors on the base paths and maybe our pitching wasn’t at our best today, but we fought the whole game. We wanted to win, but just came up short.”

Shaler put the game out of reach when sophomore Max Saban belted a three-run homer off Bryan Henry with two outs in the bottom of the sixth.

“The frustrating part is that, offensively, we were on our game,” DeBarberie said. “We gave our best against that guy and I thought we handled him well. Unfortunately the long ball killed us today.”

In his final high school at-bat, McGonigle laced a two-out double down the line in right. Fisher then reached on an infield single before Cannon grounded out to first to end the game.

“I love everything about this program and I am very happy I chose to come to Bonner. It’s the best program in (Pennsylvania),” said McGonigle, who is expected to be selected in the first round of the MLB Draft next month. “I’m very proud. Coach Steve means so much to me and all of the other coaches mean so much to me. I have faith in these guys. Today’s game doesn’t sit well in my stomach and I know it doesn’t sit well in their stomachs, but I know they’ll be back next year and they’ll win.”

In his post-game speech DeBarberie reminded his team that losing in the state semifinals for a third straight year shouldn’t be considered a failure.

“That’s exactly what I told the guys, making it this far three years in a row is unprecedented. It’s a failure of a season not making it here, and that’s what they accomplished,” DeBarberie said. “When they look back 20 years from now they are going to talk about this team that made this (round) three years in a row. I’m very proud of them. We went through a lot of adversity this year, with injuries and stuff like that. This is one of the most resilient groups I’ve had. They are never out of it and always fighting to the last pitch.”