Titusville is for real so far this season

This was the story we did for the Titusville News-Journal this week.

A Titusville Rocket trifecta happened this week for the baseball team. They cruised to a pair of big regional contest wins over Oil City and Franklin and they capped that off by playing a game under the lights on a Major League Baseball field. 

This team is having some fun.
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Against Oil City, the Rockets jumped out to 4-0 lead in the top of the first on the road. They added a pair in the second and another in the third. All in all they combined for 12 hits and were rock solid on defense, including a bases loaded double play to end the first inning. Their stellar play all game helped the Rocket pitchers Drew Wheeling and Ashton Burliegh combine for the shutout. 

Oil City left seven runners on base through the contest.
The Rockets added three more runs in the seventh to put the game out of reach for the deflated Oilers.
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The pitchers combined for 12 strikeouts.

"I think he pitched one his best games in high school today," coach Roy Schweitzer said about Wheeling’s five scoreless innings. “And Ashton (Burliegh) did a great job in relief.”

Offensively Landon Baker went 4-for-4 driving in two runs and scoring once.
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Mason Titus went 3-for-4 scoring three times and driving in one.

​Burliegh also had two RBI's on one hit.
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Seven Rockets recorded a hit in the game. "We were putting the bat on the ball," Schweitzer said.

​"We were pretty consistent at the plate with our approach, being aggressive going after strikes and laying off the off speed outside pitches."

A couple days later they hosted Franklin, a perennial district contender. “I don’t care what their record is,” Schweitzer said. “We have so much respect for that program.”

Though they didn’t have to face Franklin ace Luke Guth in the contest, they knew they had to be at their best.

Hunter Thomas pitched a gem giving up only two hits and striking out 12. Thomas also had a good day at the plate recording two RBI’s on two hits. “He really took control of the game,” Schweitzer said. “It was an impressive outing for him.
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Kasen Neely went 3-4. Burliegh and Nate Stearns also had big hits driving four more runs between them.
“We’ve been having good at bats in every game,” Schweitzer said. Franklin kept it close until the fifth inning when the Rocket’s took off, scoring six in the fifth. They added a couple more in the sixth ending the game with the 10-run mercy rule in play.

On Saturday the team had a chance to play a game at PNC Park in Pittsburgh against Athens High School. The Pirates organization works with schools to give them a chance to play on a big league field in exchange for help selling 500 tickets.

Schweitzer said they have until the end of the season to sell the tickets (see boxed sidebar for details.)
In the game, the PNC Park grounds crew stopped the game after five innings and the Rockets were only down 3-1. 

Schweitzer said the Athens team is a good team from the northern center of the state who had played at PNC a couple times before.

Kasen Neely, the starting pitcher, only gave up three runs on four hits in his three innings of work. Kam Mong held Athens to only one hit in his two innings.
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Jaxon Covell had the one RBI in the first. Assistant coach, Uriah Sampson, said in a text message. “It was pretty surreal being on the field.”

You can help
The Rockets still have Pirates' ticket vouchers to sell and are looking for community members to help. According to coach Roy Schweitzer the vouchers are $25 and can be used on any game with the exception of nights the Pirates have concerts and one or two of the holidays. Contact any member of the baseball team, their family or the coaches for more information. More information: Email Roy Schweitzer at [email protected]