Archbishop Wood played its 4A PIAA quarterfinal last Thursday, a baseball contest held with the smoke of Canadian forest fires filling the air.
The District 12 champion Vikings know something about scorching lumber. The hot Wood offense finally succumbed to District Two champion Dallas 8-3 in Tuesday’s PIAA semifinal at DeSales. A six-spot in Dallas’ fourth inning was too much to overcome. Wood, who finished the year 18-7, tacked on two from a Patrick Gozdan single in the top of the seventh before the Mountaineers ended the rally.
For their first two state playoff games, like they had all year, the Vikings poured on the runs. They whipped District Four runner-up Montoursville 9-1 at Wenger Field, three days after mercy ruling Pope John Paul II 15-5 at home in Warminster. Wood opened with a nine-run first inning against PJP II, and batted around for a six-spot in the fifth to blow open Montoursville.
“Obviously in each of those games, we had a big inning but we were also able to put up one or two runs in three or four other innings, which was very important,” pointed out Wood head coach Jim DiGuiseppe Jr. on Friday. “We’re trying to play with consistency but the big innings certainly help.”
Gozdan and Braden Kelly both homered and drove in three against PJP II. Against Montoursville, Dariel Tiburcio knocked in three runs while Kelly and Logan Pietrzak drove in two apiece. Sophomore lefty Mason Burlingame allowed one run in five innings.
Wood plated 220 runs this year, an average of nearly nine per game. Entering Tuesday’s semifinal, the Vikings had five batters achieve all three impressive milestones of hitting .365 or better, double digit extra-base hits and 17 or more RBIs.
“For the most part, we have a very balanced lineup,” DiGuiseppe noted. “It almost seems like there is a different guy each game who steps up to do something special or get the big hit while at the same time, the other guys continue to do their job.”
Brian Klumpp’s .431 average led the team, as did Joey Gale’s seven homers and Tiburcio’s 36 RBIs. Junior Gozdan, a first team All-Philadelphia Catholic League pick along with St. Joseph’s signee Gale, hit .408 with 11 extra-base hits. JP DiGuiseppe, the fifth batter, hit .371 with 25 RBIs.
This is the second straight year that Wood advanced to the PIAA semifinals; they made it to the 5A final four last June. Yet many of the current Vikings were buried on the depth chart during the 2022 run.
“It’s actually not a veteran club,” Coach DiGuiseppe said. “Last year we were loaded with very talented seniors. While we are senior-heavy this year, these were primarily all juniors last year who were waiting in the wings. And that is what makes this group very special to me. They bided their time and they are very selfless.
“We’ve got excellent leadership from our captains and this group has an excellent desire to succeed,” DiGuiseppe continued. “They genuinely like each other. They pull for each other. And they want to be here, which is huge, especially at this time of year when so many other things are going on. On Tuesday, we’ll be one of four teams left still playing in 4A in Pennsylvania. We’re going to show up, play and put our best foot forward.”
Wood wasn’t able to top Dallas on Tuesday. But the Vikings’ best foot forward is potent nonetheless. They can celebrate at least five seniors moving on to play collegiately next spring, as well as a second straight final four from a cohesive team that exceeded all expectations in 2023.
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