For Rick Satcho, the sight was all too familiar.

Another section game and another section loss — his 33rd since taking over the downtrodden McKeesport Area baseball program four years ago.

Wednesday's 9-2 Section 3-AAAA loss to Canon-McMillan at Helen Richey Field had all the feelings of a program that hasn't had a winning season in nearly a decade and a team that has only one winning season since 2001.

The Tigers booted the ball around on defense, made a handful of mental errors, couldn't get any offense going whatsoever, struggled getting the ball over the plate and looked overmatched by a program just a few years removed from winning a state championship in Canon-McMillan.

But make no mistake about it, this is not the McKeesport of old.

Satcho has the Tigers back on the brink of respectability ... now, only if they could finish off a game.

McKeesport stood toe-to-toe with Canon-McMillan through half the game before the Big Macs opened it up with a four-run sixth inning to hand the Tigers their third section loss of the season.

“Building a program at a non traditional baseball school is hard to do,” Satcho said. “I'm a baseball guy and I like winning just like everybody else. This is a good team, but we have to finish. We have to put the nail in the coffin and hammer it through. We get the coffin built, but can't get the nail in.”

McKeesport (1-4-1, 0-3) battled top-ranked Peters Township last week before giving up five runs in the eighth inning to lose 9-4. A couple days before that, the Tigers were up on perennial powerhouse Bethel Park 4-1 before losing in the last inning ... with two outs.

“We out hit Bethel Park and we out hit Peters Township and came up short,” Satcho said. “I don't want to say that we went back to the McKeesport of old today because we have a real solid team offensively and defensively.”

Neither were evident on this day.

McKeesport made as many errors and they had hits (three) off of Canon-McMillan's Zach LoRocca.

LoRocca tossed a complete game three-hitter as he took a no-hitter into the fifth inning. He gave up two runs (one earned) while striking out six.

Alec Schram led the Big Macs at the plate, going 3-for-3 with two RBI and two runs scored, while Jordan Marchitello knocked in a pair of runs and Matt Douglass had two hits.

Dylan Penn picked up the loss for McKeesport as he went 51⁄3 innings and allowed nine runs and nine hits. He struck out three and walked four.

“When you only have three hits the entire game and you are a hitting team like us, it is frustrating,” Satcho said. “We let the pitcher work his game and take control.”

LoRocca allowed only RBI ground outs by Penn and Justin Smith in the sixth and seventh innings.

“We are battling,” Satcho said. “We have the team to play with these teams. We have the pitchers, we have the fielders, we have everything. This is the best team we've had in a long time here at McKeesport.”

But the Tigers have nothing to show for it yet.

It hasn't helped that McKeesport was shuffled into a section with the perennial powers of Quad-A in Baldwin, Canon-Mac, Mt. Lebanon, Peters Township and Upper St. Clair.

“When I first found out that we were in this section I felt it was going to be great for us,” Satcho said. “When I was in high school, I played in this section. This is baseball. That is what these kids need. You play good baseball and you win.”

Even though McKeesport hasn't beaten any of their section foes yet, they haven't gotten run off the field, either.

“The three section games we played this year, I can't say that we were overmatched,” Satcho said. “This year we are surprising a lot of teams. We are never going to be close to that McKeesport of old team. We will be right back at it (today) against Mt. Lebanon and hopefully come out on top.”

Satcho has a good senior class led by Patrick Mains, Michael Caudill, Brandyn Shank, Sa'Quan Clark, Cody Haight, Penn and Smith, along with promising young guys like Eddie Stockett, Shane Cope and Zach Krivda.

“People see McKeesport and think it is going to be an easy win,” Satcho said. “It is not going to be like that anymore. We are going to go out there and fight every game.”

McKeesport resumes today at Helen Richey against Mt. Lebanon.

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