The Burrell baseball team had its star pitcher from last year graduate.

Coach Mark Spohn knew it would be difficult to replace Cole Taylor, so he didn't even try. The Buccaneers have not shown a drop off.

Burrell will play Riverview at 4 p.m. today at Shaler Area High School's Matulevic Field. The Raiders defeated New Brighton, 4-3, Tuesday in a preliminary round game.

The Bucs went 15-1 overall to earn the bye and captured the Section 3-AA title with a 12-0 record. Their only loss was against Franklin Regional, a Class AAAA team the first game of the season. Spohn has always scheduled non-section teams from higher classifications and this year was no different.

"The first game of the year I always remind them that we got killed by Franklin Regional," Spohn said of the 10-0 season-opening defeat.

"With a couple errors and a couple walks, no matter how good you think you are, it can all fall apart real quick. I always said if you are going to play a non-section game, play against a bigger school. It prepares us better. The better pitching you see throughout the year, the better it prepares you."

Before the loss to Franklin Regional, Spohn was worried how his team would handle not having a go-to guy such as Taylor, who is now pitching for Pitt, on the mound. Seniors Seth Napierkowski and Dave Kunkle have stepped up and solidified the pitching for Burrell.

"I didn't know how they would do without having a star player, a leader who can carry everyone else," said Spohn, who has overseen a 10-year playoff streak during his tenure.

"This year I wasn't sure who that was going to be, and I'm still not and that's a good thing, I guess. I think it's better like this. We don't really have a standout star; it's more of a group of average people who do well together. When other teams look at us, they won't find one star, nobody stands out above the rest."

With some of Kunkle's pitching performances, he has come close to becoming the team's star. He is 6-1 this season and threw a two-hitter against Class AAAA Penn Hills using only 69 pitches. It took him only 74 pitches to shut out Valley in seven innings, and he threw somewhat of a perfect game against West Shamokin in late April.

Kunkle was perfect through six innings, but allowed two singles in the top of the seventh inning before a lightning delay. The game was eventually called at that point and the seventh inning was not counted.

In the first six innings of that game, Kunkle struck out eight and knocked in two of Burrell's seven runs with a double. This season he has been able to work ahead of hitters and change speeds often. Most of his complete games have required less than 80 pitches.

Napierkowski has a 7-0 record as the other starter for Burrell. The top two pitchers have also provided the Buccaneers with offensive production. Kunkle leads the team in RBIs with 20 and is batting .370. Napierkowski was hitting .430 from the cleanup spot.

Senior Derek Jenkins has also started games, picking up wins against West Shamokin and a non-section game against Shady Side Academy.

In relief appearances, freshman Dave Yakopec has shown signs of being the next great Burrell pitcher. A 6-foot-2 left-hander, he can already throw 80 mph.

"[Yakopec] is going to be real good," Spohn said. "You will be reading about him for a while. We have enough good kids in front of him to just kind of keep moving him along and get him confidence and get him the feel for pitching."

While seeing limited time on the mound, Yakopec has been getting it done with his bat. He is hitting better than .300 and starts in right field.

Senior Dan Olszewksi is one of the more versatile players on the team. He usually starts at second base and moves to shortstop when Kunkle is not pitching. He can also catch and has three home runs this season.

Junior Eric McAlpine is the starting catcher.

Another young player of whom Spohn expects a lot in the future is sophomore second basemen and designated hitter Cameron Nelson.

Senior Steve Pish starts in left field and is hitting .280. Steve Yakopec, Dave's older brother, returned to the team in early April after recovering from a torn ACL. He is batting better than .300.

Wrestling standout Shane Welsh, a senior, starts at first base and soccer standout Phil Spagnolo starts at third.