In an April 22 Varsity blog entry, we talked about how no team had emerged as a clear front-runner in the Region 3 baseball race during the first three weeks. The race appeared to be anyone’s for the taking.
At the time, North East was tied with Iroquois for first place in the region with a 5-2 record.
After that blog entry, the Grapepickers took charge. They won their next seven games, clinched a Class AA playoff berth and inched closer to the Region 3 title.
North East’s streak finally ended with a 9-6 loss to Northwestern on Monday, but the ’Pickers are 15-3 overall and 12-3 in the region and in prime position for the postseason.
North East could clinch a Region 3 title with a home-field victory today against Girard.
The ’Pickers have won with clutch hitting and solid pitching. Senior pitcher/shortstop Bryan Kirsch and senior pitcher/center fielder Eric Meehl have led the team’s second-half run.
Meehl has a 4-1 record with a 0.62 earned-run average and was hitting .400 coming into the week. Kirsch was 6-0 with an ERA of 1.11. He also was leading the ’Pickers with three home runs and 19 RBIs.
Other top hitters heading into the week were Dominic Kownacki (.448), Aaron Meehl (.423), Nick Grow (.350) and Kyle Meehl (.309).

-- Fans should remember that Class AA teams and Class A teams in Region 3 play unbalanced schedules. Each AA team plays each of the six other AA teams twice and each of the four A teams once. That equates to 16 games. Each A team plays each of the other three A teams twice and each of the seven AA teams once for a total of 13 games.
As a result, Villa Maria still could overtake North East for the region title today if the Victors beat Youngsville and the ’Pickers lose to Girard. That would leave Villa at 10-3 overall and North East at 12-4. The Victors would have a higher winning percentage and would take the region crown.
Otherwise, a North East win or a Villa loss would give the ’Pickers the title.
-- Jeff Kirik