West Mifflin does not have an ace pitcher on its baseball team. And that is part of the reason for the Titans success so far this season.

"I got Ace A and Ace B," Coach Jeff Kuzma said. "Number 1A and 1B, whatever you want to call it, I have two very good pitchers, whom I think are two of the best pitchers in the section."

Mike Neckerman and Jonathan Lutz have combined to give the Titans two pitchers capable of shutting down the opposition and going the distance each game.

Before yesterday's scheduled game at Ringgold, West Mifflin was 12-2 and 9-0 in Section 4-AAA with a comfortable lead over the second-place teams Thomas Jefferson and Trinity. West Mifflin is ranked No. 3 in Class AAA by the Post-Gazette.

"Things are going pretty well right now," Kuzma said. "I was expecting our team to be good but to be honest with you I didn't know how good we could be. We were a real young team coming in but we have some big senior leaders."

Neckerman and Lutz, both seniors, provide some experience to an otherwise young roster. Neckerman, who plays center field when he is not pitching, has also been getting it done with his bat. He was leading the WPIAL in batting average at the halfway point of the season with a .656 average.

Neckerman and Lutz (4-0) have combined for seven complete games and their ability to go deep into games allows Kuzma to rotate his younger pitchers in, including Bill Bendgen who is 3-1.

"Every fourth or fifth day Mike or John gets the ball. They give me an opportunity that you don't see in high school very often for complete games," Kuzma said.

"If you have one solid pitcher, you can vie for a playoff spot and even a section title. Having two guys I know can pitch twice a week, I have never experienced that as a coach before. The credit goes to them. It is amazing to watch those guys go to work and to have two of them, I'm just speechless."

The other pitchers on the staff are junior Josh Dawida and sophomore Jeff Ziegler, who pitched a perfect three-inning game against Belle Vernon in a 15-0 win.

Other returning starters on the team are sophomore shortstop Nick Miller and third basemen junior Mike Mroz.

Youth abounds around the rest of the lineup for the Titans, but they have continued to play like a veteran bunch.

Brian Ripper, a sophomore outfielder and third basemen, has emerged this year as has sophomore second basemen Kevin Quinn, who is batting leadoff.

Junior Mike Orosz in his first year on varsity is the starting catcher. Junior Jesse Clayton has been starting at first base and has been a dominant hitter out of the five spot in the lineup.

"I don't know if surprise is the word but I would say all these kids have stepped up," Kuzma said.

"We have so much youth with our sophomore and junior classes but we knew over the course of the offseason watching those guys play against some very good competition that they could play ball."

Mroz also cracked the top 20 in hitting in the WPIAL at the midway point of the season with a .525 batting average. Quinn and Miller are also both batting better than .400.

Junior left fielder Scott Commander is out of action for an undetermined amount of time with a broken finger.

"We need to continue to get the pitching we have gotten since the beginning of the season," Kuzma said.

"They play this game with a passion. In my 10 years as a head coach, I don't think I ever had a team play with as much enthusiasm and heart from the underclassmen to the senior leaders that I have.

"That is something that will hopefully propel us to a section title."