High school baseball got a rather early start this season, with official practices starting March 3 and actual games being played only 11 days later.
Months later, six WPIAL champions were crowned and two teams from the WPIAL claimed PIAA titles.
And just like that, it’s a wrap on the 2025 season.
It was a special season for many teams and players, among them Riverside pitcher Zach Hare, who tossed a perfect game in the WPIAL Class 3A final and saw his postseason hitless streak climb to 34 innings while leading Riverside to a second PIAA title in three years.
Hare wasn’t the only hurler who shined. Heck, one of his teammates, Christian Lucarelli, was dynamite, as well. Shaler’s Colby Weber and South Park’s Cooper Hochendoner often appeared unhittable, and both led their teams to long postseason runs.
Of course, there were plenty of big hits and lots of runs, too. Fort Cherry sophomore Colton Temple nearly won the WPIAL triple crown, Avonworth’s Mason Metz regularly put on power displays, and Eden Christian’s Brady Hull was a hit machine.
The WPIAL championships especially were memorable for Class 4A Indiana and Class 2A Freedom, both of which captured their first titles. Indiana, which played in a slew of marathon games in the postseason, went on to use some final-inning magic to win its first PIAA title.
With the lights now turned out and the scorebooks shut, it’s time to close the book on the season. And what better way to do that than by handing out some awards?
Introducing the third annual Pittsburgh Union Progress baseball awards, which celebrate the best of the best from the 2025 high school season. This year’s awards include Most Feared Slugger, Rookie of the Year and Best Name.
All players in the WPIAL and City League were considered, and all finalists and winners were selected by the PUP sports staff.
(Winners in bold)
Best Pitcher
Zach Hare, Riverside
Colby Weber, Shaler
Cooper Hochendoner, South Park
Skinny: A year after finishing as the runner-up in this category to Mt. Lebanon’s David Shields, Hare claims the award after a terrific season that saw him go 10-0 with a 0.68 ERA while leading Riverside to WPIAL and PIAA Class 3A titles. Hare, a senior and Slippery Rock recruit, gave up only 16 hits and struck out 138 in 72⅓ innings. And his remarkable postseason hitless streak of 34 innings is believed to be a national record. As great as Hare was, Weber is a close second. The East Carolina recruit dazzled while leading Shaler to the WPIAL Class 5A title, going 11-0 with a 0.35 ERA to go along with 127 strikeouts and only 10 walks in 80 innings.
Best Pure Hitter
Brady Hull, Eden Christian
Luke Kosko, Thomas Jefferson
Alex VanSickle, Waynesburg
Skinny: Hull hit the cover off the ball for an Eden Christian team that reached the PIAA Class 1A title game for the third time in five years. A junior, Hull ranked among the WPIAL leaders with a .539 average and 44 RBIs. Hull produced 14 multihit games, and nearly half of his 41 hits were of the extra-base variety. He finished with 14 doubles, 1 triple and 3 home runs. Hull has a career batting average of .530 after hitting .588 as a freshman and .493 as a sophomore.
Most Feared Slugger
Colton Temple, Fort Cherry
Mason Metz, Avonworth
Todd Kagle, Quaker Valley
Skinny: Pitchers might have felt like they were entering the “Temple of Doom” when facing Temple, a sophomore who nearly won the WPIAL triple crown in the regular season when he led the district in home runs and RBIs and ranked among the leaders in batting average. Temple closed the season with a .621 average, 10 home runs and 36 RBIs. He hit two home runs in two games and knocked in multiple runs 10 times.
Best Championship Performance
Zach Hare, Riverside
Boden Hilliard, Freedom
Tyler Skaggs, Serra Catholic
Skinny: Winning this award over Hilliard (one-hitter, winning RBI in the WPIAL Class 2A final) and Skaggs (no-hitter in the WPIAL Class 1A final) is extremely difficult to do, but so is throwing a perfect game in the WPIAL championship. Hare became the first to do it when he fired a perfect game with 15 strikeouts in a 1-0 win against Quaker Valley in the Class 3A final. Oh, and he needed only 82 pitches to do it, too.
Most Clutch Performance
Charlie Manzi, Indiana
Mark Collinger, Indiana
Antonio Perri, Central Valley
Skinny: Indiana was the cardiac kids of the postseason, winning games that lasted 9, 11, 12 and a PIAA postseason-record 17 innings, and it was Manzi and Collinger who came up big in some heart-thumping moments. The award goes to Manzi, a junior who smashed a walk-off, two-run home run in the 11th inning to lift Indiana to its first WPIAL title. A few weeks later, it was Collinger who played magician, helping Indiana escape a bases-loaded jam with no outs in the seventh to hold on for a 5-4 win against Montoursville in the PIAA Class 4A championship.
Rookie of the Year
Dean Douglass, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart
Jordan Davis, Carmichaels
Breck Hemphill, Pine-Richland
Skinny: Douglass was a fantastic freshman for an OLSH club that advanced to the WPIAL championship for just the second time in program history. The team’s cleanup hitter, Douglass batted .363 with 21 RBIs and 16 runs scored. Douglass was especially good in the playoffs. In four games, he batted .500 with seven RBIs and hit his first home run.
Best Base Stealer
Brock Budacki, New Brighton
Charlie Nigut, Elizabeth Forward
Brett Feldman, Eden Christian
Skinny: If Budacki did off the field what he does so often on the field, he likely would be arrested. Budacki was a thief this season, as his 30 stolen bases placed him among the state leaders. He swiped bases in 14 of New Brighton’s 19 games and helped the Lions advance to the WPIAL Class 2A quarterfinals. A senior, Budacki will continue his career at Florida Southern.
Best Name
Sully VanHoose, Indiana
Jax Plunkard, Seneca Valley
Swayzee Reighert, Union
Skinny: If being the winning pitcher in the PIAA championship wasn’t already a big enough prize, claiming PUP Best Name honors surely will be. With all due respect to the airplane pilot and the character from “Monsters, Inc.,” this junior right-hander (full name is Sullivan) was the best Sully around this spring. Also considered was last year’s winner, Chartiers-Houston’s Justus Buckingham.
Best Video Interview
Ryan Rebholz, Seneca Valley
Charlie Manzi, Indiana
Tyler Skaggs, Serra Catholic
Skinny: Give it up for Rebholz, who gutted out a postgame interview after taking a line drive off of his right foot that forced him from the WPIAL Class 6A championship. Despite being in pain, Rebholz, a junior who teamed with Luis Torrenegra on a two-hit shutout in a 1-0 win, smiled and joked, and admitted that winning the title temporarily removed some of his discomfort.
Best Quote
Troy Leas, Shaler
Mark Feldman, Eden Christian
Dan O’Leary, Freedom
Skinny: Leas took one for the team, as this senior helped plate what would be the winning run when, with the bases loaded, he was plunked by a pitch on his left hand in the eighth inning of Shaler’s 5-2 win against Pine-Richland in the WPIAL Class 5A championship. When asked about it afterward, Leas said, “I like getting hit by pitches. It’s one of my favorite things.” This might have been the hardest winner to select, as Leas had lots of competition. Other favorites included Feldman, who quipped, “They’re going to call me Marv Levy” after Eden Christian fell to 0-5 in championships since 2021, and O’Leary, who replied to a question about his team committing a baserunning blunder in the PIAA Class 2A title game by saying, “You want to know what really happened? Brain farts.”
Check back Monday and Tuesday, when we reveal the PUP baseball Player of the Year and Coach of the Year for the 2025 season. The finalists are listed below.
Player of the Year
Zach Hare, Riverside
Colton Temple, Fort Cherry
Colby Weber, Shaler
Coach of the Year
Brian Junker, Shaler
Dan Oliastro, Riverside
Dan Petroff, Indiana
Brad is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at beverett@unionprogress.com.