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Hopewell HS Baseball

Hopewell Ends Home Season with 10-4 Loss to Blackhawk

by Mike Vukovcan
written by Mike Vukovcan 1 minutes read

Hopewell Township- The Hopewell Vikings HS baseball team played their last home game of the 2025 season and lost 10-4 to the Blackhawk Cougars.

Blackhawk jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the 2nd inning and that was the score after 4 innings. However, Blackhawk added 5 runs in the fifth inning to increase the lead to 7-0.

Hopewell added 2 runs in the fifth and 2 more in the seventh but were only able to register 5 hits for the game.

Junior Charlie Smetana reached base 3 times with 1 hit, 2 walks and collected an RBI. Cleanup hitter Logan Triscila went 2-3 with an RBI.

This afternoon was the final home game for Hopewell senior David Medich, who started the game in right field.

Thanks David for all your contributions to Hopewell baseball!

The Vikings will close out the 2025 season on Friday night as they take on West Allegheny at Washington Wild Things Park.

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Hopewell HS Baseball

Hopewell’s David Medich Makes His College Decision

by Mike Vukovcan
written by Mike Vukovcan 1 minutes read

We’re excited to report that another Hopewell High School athlete is taking their talent to the next level!

Today, Hopewell senior right-handed pitcher David Medich announced that he’ll be taking his talents to get an education and continue to play baseball at Thiel College.

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Medich has been a huge part of the Vikings program over the past 3 seasons, including serving as the closer on the Hopewell 2023 WPIAL Championship winning team. After serving as the closer as a sophomore, Medich moved into the Hopewell starting rotation for his junior and senior season.

David has routinely been someone that Coach Singletary and the coaching staff could rely on to take the ball and give them a good effort.

Wanted to also point out that aside from being a leader on the field, Medich was someone that interacted well and was a tremendous mentor to young players in the program.

Vikings Sports Now wants to wish David all the best in his college career and thank him for everything he did for Hopewell Baseball.

Also, congratulations to David’s parents, Mickey and Tracy Medich.

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Hopewell HS Baseball

Loss to CV Puts Hopewell in Must-Win Situation

by Mike Vukovcan
written by Mike Vukovcan 1 minutes read

Center Township- After a sweep last week of Hampton, the Hopewell High School baseball team got themselves back in playoff contention.

The Vikings returned to action today against Central Valley, with both teams tied for the final playoff spot. With that being the case, these next two games against CV would be huge for both teams.

Unfortunately, Central Valley took the lead in this two-game set by coming away with a 5-2 victory. Daniel McIntosh got the start for CV and was dominant, going 6 innings, allowing just 2 hits, 2 earned runs and striking out 8 batters.

Hopewell was only able to collect 3 hits- Kingston Krotec, Ben McDonald and James Gill.

After Hopewell took a 1-0 lead in the 4th inning, Central Valley answered with 4 runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 4-1 lead.

Hopewell scored a run in the top of the fifth to get within two but CV quickly responded with a run of their own in the bottom of the frame.

David Medich got the start for Hopewell and went 3.2 innings, giving up 3 hits, 4 runs (1 earned run), walking 3 and striking out 3. Ben McDonald pitched the final 2.2 innings, allowing 1 run and striking out 3.

Weather permitting, these two teams will square off again tomorrow with Kingston Krotec getting the start.

While this might not technically be a must-win game, it’s as close as you get. If you’re looking for a good omen, Hopewell found themselves in must-win situations recently against Ambridge and North Catholic and Hopewell came away with wins.

The person on the mound in both of those games? Kingston Krotec.

First pitch tomorrow is scheduled for 4 PM.

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Hopewell HS Baseball

Hopewell Turns in Best Performance of Season in 8-1 Win Over Hampton

by Mike Vukovcan
written by Mike Vukovcan 4 minutes read

While they weren’t technically the playoffs, considering the situation they’re in, the Hopewell Viking baseball teams playoffs started today against Hampton.

Sitting with a 2-4 record in the section and needing to jump 3 teams in order to reach fourth place, which would get them in the playoffs, Hopewell entered today’s contest knowing that these next two games against Hampton were must wins.

With their backs against the wall, Hopewell played without a doubt their most complete and best game of the season as they defeated Hampton, 8-1. It’s interesting that all 3 of Hopewell’s section wins have come on the road (Hampton, Ambridge and North Catholic).

Hopewell played strong defense (0 errors), banged out a season-high 11 hits and got a tremendous performance from starting pitcher David Medich. The senior right-hander pitched a complete game, allowing only 6 hits, 1 earned run, 2 walks and struck out 6 batters. Medich, who threw 96 pitches (62 strikes), was one out away from a shutout before a 2-out double by Hampton.

The win gives Hopewell their first two-game winning streak of the season and more importantly, keeps them alive in their quest to make a late season run to the WPIAL Playoffs. Step one was today and now they need to rinse and repeat this performance tomorrow afternoon, when they return home to host Hampton in Game Two of this series.

GAME RECAP-

*This game started off as another pitching duel as it remained scoreless through 4 innings.

Bottom of the 1st– Hampton’s leadoff hitter reached on a single, but Medich went on to strike out the next two batters and got the final out of the inning on a pop up to Collin Davis at second base.

Bottom of the 2nd– Medich had a relatively easy second inning as he struck out the first batter and then after allowing a single, he received some help from his catcher Charlie Smetena, who gunned down a runner attempting to steal second base. On the season, Smetena has thrown out 10 of the 13 runners that have attempted to steal a base. I’ll give the opposing teams a helpful hint, quit trying to steal against Chuck, it doesn’t turn out well.

Hopewell’s Charlie Smetana

Bottom of the 3rd– Medich only faced 4 batters in the third inning as he recorded another strikeout, second out came courtesy a ground out to Drew Donovan at short and the frame ended on a line out to Davis at second base.

Bottom of the 4th– A 1-2-3 fourth inning following two strikeouts and a ground out to Donovan.

Top of the 5th– Hopewell took advantage of some sloppy defense by Hampton in this inning. After 1 out, Ben McDonald doubled to center field. Next up, Davis reached on an error by the shortstop and McDonald advanced to third base. Next up, Jake Knoblach laid down a bunt and reached on an error by the Hampton pitcher and McDonald and Davis scored. Hopewell led 2-0. Knobloch advanced all the way to 3rd base and that was key because he was able to score on a ground out by leadoff hitter Kingston Krotec. Hopewell led 3-0. Krotec did his job at the top of the order collecting 3 hits.

Hopewell’s Kingston Krotec

Bottom of the 5th– More good Hopewell defense in this inning is after a leadoff walk, Donovan turned an unassisted 6-3 double play to clean things up. Donovan has turned into ‘Mr. Doubleplay” for Hopewell. In their last game against Laurel Highlands, Donovan turned two unassisted DP’s and also teamed up with Davis for a 6-4-3 twin killing.

Hopewell’s Drew Donovan

Top of the 6th– Hopewell tacked on two more runs to give themselves some breathing room. After one out, Logan Triscila was hit by a pitch, which was followed by a double to right field by Donovan. That put runners at 2nd and 3rd for James Gill, who delivered with a double to center field, which scored Triscila and Donovan. Gill finished today 2-4 for 3 RBI and in his last 3 games is 4 for 6. Hopewell now led 5-0.

Hopewell’s James Gill

Bottom of the 6th– Nothing doing for Hampton in the 6th as Donovan took care of the first two outs with the final out coming after a grounder to Jake Knobloch at 3rd.

Top of the 7th– The Vikings added 3 more runs in their final at-bats of the game. Krotec led off with his 3rd hit of the game, followed by a single to right field by James Armstrong. Now with 2 on, Smetana singled to left, which loaded the bases with 0 outs. The hits kept coming as Triscila hit a line drive single to center, which scored Krotec and Armstrong. Hopewell led 7-0. The final run for Hopewell came after an RBI single by Gill, which scored Smetana. Hopewell led 8-0.

Bottom of the 7th– Medich came back out to get the final 3 outs and that’s exactly what he did as the first two came after a lineout to Triscila at first and a fly out to Krotec in right field. Following a Hampton RBI double, the final out of the game was a grounder to Davis at second.

FINAL SCORE- HOPEWELL 8 HAMPTON 1

“WINNING IS FUN’!!!

These two teams will battle it out again tomorrow at Hopewell High School with the first pitch scheduled for 4 PM. It’ll be another beautiful day so if you have a chance, stop by and cheer this team on as they look for their third consecutive win.

In case you were wondering, Hopewell’s last 3 game winning streak occurred during their magical run of winning the WPIAL Championship. At the end of that season, before their season ending loss in the PIAA Playoffs, Hopewell went on a 7-game winning streak to end the season. Can that magic return for the end of this season? Time will tell.

Go Vikings!!

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Around Hopewell

Let’s Vote (Again)- 3 Hopewell Athletes Up for Athlete of the Week

by Mike Vukovcan
written by Mike Vukovcan 1 minutes read

Hopewell you did it last week with Charlie Smetana, let’s try and make it two weeks in a row with a few different names.

Today, we found out that Hopewell junior catcher Charlie Smetana was named the Beaver County Times Athlete of the Week.

This morning, the Beaver County Times released their nominees for this week’s Athlete of the Week, and it includes 3 athletes from Hopewell High School.

Congrats to Hopewell senior pitcher David Medich, Hopewell Softball’s Kara Barkovich and Hopewell Track and Field Athlete Emma Palmieri for being among the athletes up for the Boy’s and Girl’s Athlete of the Week.

Last week, Medich had a 10-strikeout performance, Barkovich had a 3-for-3, 3 RBI performance while Palmieri had the 100, 200 and 400-meter races in the Vikings last meet.

You can vote once a day (the male and female are obviously separate votes), with the voting being closed on Friday.

Let’s go Hopewell, let’s click on the link, vote and then share this article.

https://www.timesonline.com/story/sports/high-school/2025/04/13/beaver-county-times-spring-sports-athletes-of-the-week-april-6-12/82872970007/?utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwY2xjawJpL9FleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHqPJNZ2yqE2V3sHWiReRJpEn3Uk3QIgBYNedq0HHs_hysvHDlCygPJgKV-UB_aem_8BjOdZw2GCYquoMRreQVOA

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Hopewell HS Baseball

Hopewell Deserved a Better Fate But Lose to North Catholic, 5-1

by Mike Vukovcan
written by Mike Vukovcan 3 minutes read

HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP– Sports can be great, sports can be exciting, but sports can also be extremely frustrating.

Today’s high school baseball game between Hopewell and North Catholic was a perfect example of that.

When you’re on a winning streak, the things that happened to the Vikings don’t happen and they go the other way. However, when you’re struggling, things play out like they did this afternoon.

For 6 of the 7 innings, Hopewell looked and for the most part, played like the better team. Unfortunately, the No. 4 ranked North Catholic Trojans put things together in the 6th inning and that was enough to go on to a 5-1 win.

Senior right-hander David Medich started for Hopewell and deserved a better fate, but sports can be cruel and although he certainly pitched well enough to win, it won’t show up that way in the box score.

Medich pitched 6 innings, allowing 8 hits, 4 earned runs, 0 walks and struck out 10. However, this game was scoreless going to the top of the 6th with Medich’s stat line showing- 5 innings, 0 runs, 3 hits and 7 K’s. Unfortunately, North Catholic’s top of the order started the 6th inning, and they did their jobs by scoring 4 runs.

Despite the loss, Hopewell arguably played their most complete game of the season as they hit collected a season-high 7 hits. The frustrating part of this game was that in six of the seven innings today, Hopewell had a run in scoring position but only scored 1 run. And it wasn’t because they didn’t hit the ball hard or well, they either hit a ball right at the North Catholic defender or a ball wouldn’t fall. Here’s some examples.

HOPWELL PLAYED WELL ENOUGH TO WIN, BUT-

 1ST INNING: Kingston Krotec singled to lead off the game and eventually reached second base. With 2 outs, Logan Triscila hit a sharp single to left but the North Catholic left fielder was playing shallow and Triscila’s shot to the outfield reached the left fielder quickly and didn’t allow Krotec to score. A ball hit softer or to the left or right of the outfielder and Krotec would’ve scored. BUT….

2ND INNING: Collin Davis did a great job of hitting to lead off the inning. The freshman slapped an 0-2 curveball to right field. However, a couple of pitches later, Davis broke for second base against the left-hander and appeared to beat the throw to second base as the throw from the first baseman was high, but the umpire saw it differently. I didn’t agree with the call, but I wasn’t the umpire. Wouldn’t you know, the next hitter, Brody McCullough singled to center field. It didn’t end there in the second as the Vikings had runners as 1st and 2nd with 2 outs and Krotec laced a ball to center field, BUT, it was right at the center fielder. A foot to his left or right and that’s a sure double which would’ve scored 2 runs. BUT….

3RD INNING: Triscilla hit a deep double to center field with 2 outs but was stranded.

4TH INNING: With 2 outs, McCullough and Drew Donovan reached based. With runners and 1st and 2nd, the short stop was cheating towards second base in order to hold on McCullough. Next up, Krotec once again hit a hard ball up the middle and if the short stop wasn’t playing towards second and was in his normal spot on defense, that would’ve been a single. But instead, it went right to the short stop for the 3rd out.

5TH INNING: James Armstrong and Charlie Smetana started the inning by reaching base and Hopewell would eventually load the bases but couldn’t bring anyone in. During that inning, Jake Knobloch hit a line drive near the line in right and it went foul by a foot or so. The game remained scoreless.

6TH INNING: Hopewell eventually scored on a fielders choice by Armstrong and had a chance to score more but Armstrong and Smetana were stranded.

Krotec, Smetana, Triscila, Davis, McCullough and Donovan all had multiple at-bats that were very good.

FINAL SCORE: NORTH CATHOLIC 5 HOPEWELL 1

These two teams will play again tomorrow (weather permitting) as the scene shifts to North Catholic High School.

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Hopewell HS Baseball

Hopewell Falls to Shenango, 2-1, in Opener

by Mike Vukovcan
written by Mike Vukovcan 2 minutes read

The Hopewell Vikings baseball team opened their 2025 season but unfortunately, things didn’t go entirely as planned.

The Vikings pitchers performed as expected but the bats were held silent by Shenango pitcher Joey Campoli, as Hopewell fell 2-1 at Chuck Tanner Field.

The left-handed pitched a complete game, allowing only 3 hits, 4 walks and 8 strikeouts.

Senior David Medich got the start for Hopewell and almost matched Campoli’s outing. Medich went 5 innings, allowing only 2 hits, 1 run, 3 walks, while striking out 9 strikeouts.

Offensively for Hopewell, junior Kingston Krotec went 2-4 with an RBI while Ben McDonald came off the bench and provided a pinch hit double. McDonald didn’t start because of an undisclosed lower body injury.

Medich pitched an efficient 1st inning as he needed only 13 pitches while striking out 2 batters.

Shenango struck first in the second inning as the leadoff batter reached on a hit by pitch. Then with 1 out, the next batter walked followed by an RBI single. Shenango led 1-0.

In the Hopewell top of the 3rd, Collin Davis led off and reached on an error. Davis was sacrificed to second but was stranded there.

Shenango threatened in the bottom of the 3rd as they loaded the bases with 2 outs but Medich escaped by coming up with a strikeout to get out of the jam.

The 4th inning was uneventful for both teams as Hopewell was retired 1-2-3 and Medich recorded 2 more punch outs.

Same thing in the 5th inning as Medich retired Shenango 1-2-3 by getting a groundout to Davis at second, Medich fielded a ground ball at the mound and 1st baseman Brody McCullough caught a pop up at first.

Krotec led off the 6th inning with a single, which was Hopewell’s first hit of the game. Charlie Smetana followed that by drawing a walk so Hopewell had 2 on with 0 out.

After 1 out, a wild pitch moved runners to 2nd and 3rd, which was followed by Drew Donovan drawing a walk. Hopewell had the bases loaded with 1 out but couldn’t plate a run. Shenango continued to lead 1-0.

Shenango extended their lead to 2-0 courtesy a 2-out RBI double.

Hopewell threatened in the final inning but eventually came up short.

McDonald led off the 7th inning with a double and then with scored on a 2-out single by Krotec but that’s all the Vikings offense could come up with.

Hopewell (0-1) is next in action on Tuesday at home as they host Riverside.

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Hopewell HS Baseball

David Medich Hoping to Close Out Hopewell Career with Another Title

by Mike Vukovcan
written by Mike Vukovcan 4 minutes read

If the much-used slogan of good pitching beats good hitting holds true, then the 2025 Hopewell Vikings Baseball team has a chance to win a lot of games this season.

Head Coach Morgan Singletary and pitching coach Rich Absey will have David Medich, Kingston Krotec, Ben McDonald, Jake Knobloch, Payton Korker, Brody McCullough, and James Armstrong at their disposal.

But make no mistake about it, the front of the rotation will be led by Medich and Krotec, who will give the Vikings an advantage on most nights.

For Medich, this will be his second year in the rotation after starting out his career at Hopewell as a closer. In fact, David was the late inning pitcher back in 2023 when Hopewell won the WPIAL Championship.

Hopewell Pitcher David Medich

Vikings Sports Now had the chance to talk with Medich about his expectations for 2025, his role on the team and started out getting his thoughts on being the only senior on the roster. Has he started to think about this being the final season and last time he’ll be doing certain things with Hopewell baseball.

“Not much, because a lot of our juniors and team leaders and great people,” said Medich. “We have a team full of leaders, which I think is a good thing opposed to just having one or two people.”

“I’m sure that will really start hitting me when the games actually start but I am glad that I don’t have to do the run again (laughing), I got my last run done.”

Medich was referring to yesterday being the annual Hopewell Team Bonding Day, part of which consists of the team going for a 4-mile team run. While that might have been difficult (LOL), he did enjoy the team meal at The Yard in Robinson and having some fun at the Steeltown Event Park where he and his teammates competed in paintball.

Hopewell 2025 Team Bonding Day

Hopewell 2025 Team Bonding Day

Competing is something Medich did quite well last year as the leader of the Vikings rotation. More times than naught, Medich gave his manager plenty of quality innings and his Vikings teammates a chance to win.

He’ll return to that role this season and has worked in the offseason to try and be an even better than he was a year ago

“I think I can be a better pitcher by having more pitches this year and having more time to work on my stuff than last year,” Medich told Vikings Sports Now. “Each year it’s different with pitching. Whether you find something new, or something didn’t work as good as it did last year. I think the experience of last year will also help me because I played against these guys last year and I’ll be seeing them against this year.”

David Medich

“I threw a lot of curveballs last year so I think people will expect that from me. So, I tried to work on my slider and other pitches and try and work away from the curveball. I think it’s going to really depend on the game. If I come out throwing a lot of curve balls and they still can’t hit it, I’ll likely keep going with it. But if they come out waiting on it, then I could switch it up.”

During the offseason, Medich told me that a portion of it included resting his right arm, which was used quite a bit. Converting to a starter after being a closer meant that he threw a ton more pitches than he did the previous season. Other things he worked on during the fall and winter months were lifting weights with the Hopewell strength and conditioning staff as well as working with coaches on pitches, in terms of what to throw and when to throw it.

Another factor that will help Medich is the depth that the staff will have this season. Instead of trying to get another inning out of him late in a game, the coaching staff will have the option of bringing in a fresh and lively arm. This could make Medich’s arm healthier and fresh longer into the season. In general, though, Medich is extremely excited about the overall depth of the staff.

“It’s going to be a lot better this year than it was last year because guys have had a year to develop,” said Medich. “People like Brody, Jake are also guys that will be able to help us. I think it’s really going to come down to if we can hit as a team because I think our pitching is going to be lights out this year. Every game we play this year; we’re going to have a good pitcher on the mound.”

And as I started off by saying, when you have good pitching, you’re giving yourself a chance to win, something Medich expects his team to do a lot of in his final season as a Viking.

“Our team wants to and is expecting to win it all. Our mindset is to win the WPIAL Championship.”

Medich and his teammates will open the season on the road against Shenango on March 14th before their Home Opener on March 18th against Riverside.

 

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