The Plum varsity baseball team first tasted defeat April 1 when Shaler came to Plum and scored a 4-1 nonsection victory.

The Mustangs rattled off nine wins in a row after that, including seven straight in Section 4-AAAA play to sit atop the section standings.

One of those wins was a convincing 10-2 triumph at Allderdice.

On Monday, the Dragons gained a measure of revenge and put themselves in strong position to grab the third and final WPIAL playoff spot out of the section.

Plum’s 3-2 setback to Allderdice on Monday put the Mustangs in bounce-back mode as it continued with its week of section contests.

A section game with McKeesport on Wednesday was to be played past the deadline for this week’s edition.

Thursday’s huge section rematch with Franklin Regional, weather permitting, is at home and could decide the outright section title.

While Plum had its hands full with Allderdice, Franklin Regional took care of business against Gateway, winning 13-5 Monday to up it section mark to 7-1.

Before the Panthers could focus on their rematch with Plum, a 4-0 Mustangs win on April 17, they had to deal with Allderdice on Wednesday.

Alex Kirilloff, who had a big day against Franklin Regional the first time around with a key two-run home run, provided Plum its offense on Monday against Dragons hurler Solomon Averbach.

Kirilloff, who continues his charge as one of the WPIAL’s most dangerous hitters again this season, smacked a pair of solo home runs.

His first shot in the bottom of the fourth tied the game at one, and his second bomb in the bottom of the sixth brought the Mustangs to within one at 3-2.

However, Plum’s offense was not able to draw any closer.

The Mustangs were limited to five hits in the loss, as Averbach struck out eight and walked one in the complete-game victory.

Nate Fichtner, the son of Pittsburgh Steelers quarterbacks coach Randy Fichtner, delivered with an RBI triple in the sixth inning to lift Allderdice into the lead.

Allderdice has been making a charge as of late, as the Dragons were 4-1 over their past five in section, including Monday’s win, prior to their game with Franklin Regional.

Allderdice and Gateway split games last week. The Dragons improved to 5-3 with Monday’s win, while the Gators fell of the pace in the fight for the playoffs at 3-5 following Monday’s loss to Franklin Regional.

In Plum’s first game against the Panthers at Haymaker Park in Murrysville, the Mustangs collected seven hits off of Franklin Regional starter Luciano Besh.

Besh entered the week 3-2 with a 1.51 ERA in 31 innings of work.

Brian Albert also was strong in the first meeting as he collected a double, a single and scored two runs.

Pitcher Nick Satovich, who limited the Panthers offense to two hits in the complete-game victory, helped himself at the plate with two hits. He led off the top of the seventh with a single and later scored Plum’s final run on a squeeze bunt from Ian Miller.

Michael Love is a Trib Total Media staff writer. Reach him at 412-388-5825 or at mlove@tribweb.com.

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