4 Baseball Seniors Reflect on Careers and a Duck. Yes, a Duck.

(Mckeesport, PA)

4 Greater Allegheny Baseball Seniors will be honored on Friday. April 23 at Pullman Park apart of Senior Day festivities.

Zach Schmader (South Park, PA/ South Park HS), Matt Smith (North Versailles, PA/ East Allegheny HS), Brian Koglin (Fox Chapel, PA Fox Chapel HS) and Brett Yuhas (Munhall, PA / Steel Valley HS) have been teammates since 2017, 2016 for Smith, Koglin, and Yuhas.

What a ride it has been.

This is a group that has won 53 games since 2016, missed the majority of the 2019/20 season due to the Covid-19 pandemic, qualified for the PSUAC playoffs twice, and is knocking on the door for another run at a championship this season.

There have been PSUAC and USCAA Player of the Week Awards, homeruns, complete games, and a duck. Yes, a duck. Or, in this case, a lot of ducks.

There's a saying in baseball, "Ducks on the Pond" when a team has runners on base and a hitter is looking to collect some RBI's. Brian Koglin started saying this early on in his GA career and like any good superstition, the legend of the duck was born. 

Big ducks, small ducks, ducks with masks, ducks in Coach Kenny Creehan's car, and like Oprah, "You get a duck, and you get a duck." You get the idea.

The duck has become the unofficial mascot of the GA Baseball Team. 

It must be working, both Koglin and Yuhas have collected over 50 RBI's in their career and 5 home runs combined.

The ducks can be seen in the GA dugout and come out when a hitter delivers at the plate.

No one from the team has been able to confirm if one of the ducks will be honored at the Senior Day ceremonies. If we were guessing, we bet the answer is yes.

Senior Day Festivities get going at 3:45pm with first pitch versus Penn State Mont Alto at 4pm.