Norwin grad JJ Matijevic performing in 'big situations' for Houston Astros

It wasn’t majestic, like one of his second-deck home runs, and it didn’t find a gap.

But JJ Matijevic’s hard-hit grounder did enough to score the winning run for the Houston Astros, who continued their mastery of the visiting New York Yankees last Thursday with a 3-2 win.

Matijevic, pinch-hitting again in a tough situation as he clings tightly to his second major league call-up of the summer out of Triple-A Sugar Land, delivered a single deep on the infield with the bases loaded to score Alex Bregman for a walk-off victory.

The Norwin product homered off Gerrit Cole and the Yankees on June 25 — a solo shot into the upper deck — in a 3-0 win that saw Cristian Javier, Hector Neris and Ryan Pressly combine on a no-hitter.

His first two hits in the majors were home runs.

Astros manager Dusty Baker keeps circling back to Matijevic, the rookie whom he sent to the plate with two outs in his pro debut in April. Houston trailed Toronto, 4-3, with two on in the bottom of the ninth.

Matijevic struck out.

This time, the well-tattooed lefty assured to make contact to get the base paths moving.

“I was happy for JJ,” Baker said after the win.

Said Matijevic: “I’m always ready to hit … big situations, be ready to go. It’s a great feeling to help this team win.”

Matijevic, 26, who has been playing some first base and starting as a designated hitter, was slashing .159/.229/.341 in 44 at-bats. He had seven hits, five runs scored and four RBIs.

He was the 75th pick in the 2017 MLB Draft.

In the minors

An update on some other local players trying to break into the major leagues:

• Zach Kokoska, a Latrobe alum and 10th-round pick of the Colorado Rockies in 2021 out of Kansas State, was batting .245 with nine homers, nine doubles, 42 runs and 27 RBIs with the Single-A Fresno Grizzlies.

He played in the rookie league last year and hit .395 in 20 games.

Kokoska, an outfielder, has nine multi-hit games this season, including two four-hit performances.

• Jared Kollar, Kokoska’s teammate at Latrobe when the team won WPIAL and PIAA Class 5A championships in 2017, was recently signed by the San Diego Padres out of Rutgers. The right-handed pitcher was set to report to rookie ball in Arizona.

Kollar played four years at Seton Hill.

• Norwin grad Max McDowell was hitting .189 with a homer, 13 runs and 11 RBIs in 47 games with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, the Triple-A affiliate of the Yankees.

The catcher is in his seventh pro season.

• A second-year minor leaguer with ties to Greensburg and plenty of hype, Sal Frelick is playing for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, the Milwaukee Brewers’ Class A-Advanced team.

An infielder/outfielder, Frelick was the 15th pick in the first round of the 2021 draft. He began the year with the Double-A Biloxi Shuckers, where he hit .317 with three homers and 20 RBIs.

He was slashing .291/.391/.456 with Wisconsin.

Frelick, who played at Boston College after a stellar, three-sport prep career in Massachusetts, was with three teams last summer, also seeing time in rookie ball and Single-A.

His father, Jeff, went to Greensburg Central Catholic and played football at Pitt.

Sal’s grandfather, Henry, played quarterback at Greensburg Salem.

Bazala, Dunlap honored

Former Norwin standout pitcher Jake Bazala was the recipient of the Pete Vuckovich Award, which goes to the top pitcher in the Johnstown Collegiate Baseball League.

Another local standout, Aiden Dunlap, who played at Hempfield and is set to play at Youngstown State, was tabbed the league’s Ken Horoho Award winner as the top rookie.

Bazala, who plays at Mercyhurst, helped Paul Carpenter Capital Advisors win the regular-season title. He was 5-0 with a 1.01 ERA and 38 strikeouts in 272 1/3 innings.

Dunlap batted .444 with 24 runs scored and drove in 21.

Another Norwin alum and Paul Carpenter team member, Nick Fleming (Mount St. Mary’s), was named an all-league designated hitter, and Aidan Shephard (Norwin/Mercyhurst) of Mainline Pharmacy, and Noah Sweeney (Greensburg Salem/Seton Hill) of Paul Carpenter made all-league as outfielders, Connor Helm (Franklin Regional/Washington & Jefferson) of Team O was picked as a shortstop and Landon DiBeradin (Norwin/Mercyhurst), also of O, was selected as a catcher.