Before the season, first-year Marian head baseball coach John “Pilsey” Petrilyak set three goals for his team – win 10 games, play in the league playoffs, and qualify for the district playoffs.

Yesterday at North Schuylkill High School, the fifth-seeded Colts reached two of their goals when they met fourth-seeded Minersville in a PIAA Class 2A quarterfinal game.

Unfortunately for the Colts, getting there wasn’t enough, as they dropped a 5-3 decision to Minersville (13-8). With the defeat, Marian finished their season with a 10-11 record.

Achieving 10 wins was a major accomplishment for a young Colts’ club, though.

“We were very proud of that we reached two of our goals,” reflected Petrilyak. “We were a very young club. We were starting seven sophomores. It was good to have these kids play in a district atmosphere.”

Marian took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second when Jimmy Cannon’s RBI single scored Cole Defrancisco, who had doubled.

But Minersville took a 2-1 lead when the Battlin’ Miners plated single runs in the third and fourth innings.

The Colts narrowed the gap to 3-2 when Defrancisco singled home Davidovich, who had reached first on an error.

Minersville, which made the most of their six hits and five Marian walks, salted the game away when it pushed across two runs in the home sixth.

Marian scored its final run when in the fifth when Alex Diaz’s scored Defrancisco, who hit his second double of the game.

Defrancisco, who threw 87 pitches, allowed four hits and four earned runs with five walks over five innings. Chase Grier was touched for two runs and two hits with a strikeout in one inning.

Minersville pitcher Logan Hutsko allowed nine hits, struck out seven and walked three over 6.1 innings in the third meeting this season between the two teams.

Ironically, Hutsko pitched almost an identical game, giving up nine hits and striking out seven in 4-3 victory over the Colts May 7. Marian won at home, 15-3, against Minersville, April 15.

“(Defrancisco) pitched well enough to win, and nothing was different in the game,” added Petrilyak. “Hutsko is a polished kid who competes. (Minersville head coach) Shane (Spotts) always puts out a product of tough, gritty kids who don’t strike out much. They struck out once today, and we struck out eight times.”

Davidovich will be their lone graduate, and Petrilyak and his budding club expect to take another step forward next season.

“I learned a lot as a first-year head coach and will apply some things differently next year,” said Petrilyak. “We were always learning and teaching.

“We had some young kids make young-player mistakes. Those will be fixed next year.”

COLTS’ TROTTS ... Defrancisco collected three hits, and Diaz and Noah Bauder each had two of Colts’ overall 10 hits ... Marian received a bye in the Class A bracket and lost to Nativity B.V.M. in the championship game last season ... Minersville lost to Tri-Valley, 10-0, in the Class 2A championship game last year ... Marian scored double-digit runs in eight of their wins and in four of their losses this season. The Colts routed Weatherly, 29-1, April 22.

Marian 010 010 1 - 3 10 0

Minersville 001 112 x - 5 6 1

Defrancisco, Grier (6) and Labenburg; Hutsko, Plesnarski (7) and Halford. W - Hutsko. L - Defrancisco.