The Gateway varsity baseball team is back in the WPIAL Quad A playoffs after missing the postseason a year ago.

The baseball playoff pairings committee meets tomorrow (Friday) and the pairings should be released then. The first round is tentatively set to begin Tuesday.

Gateway was scheduled to close out its Section 4-AAAA schedule yesterday (Wednesday) at McKees- port.

The Gators entered the game 7-4 in section play and in third place behind section leaders Pittsburgh Central Catholic and Plum.

Gateway also took on Kiski Area Tuesday in a non-section game and closes out the regular season tonight (Thursday) at 7 at home against Franklin Regional.

"The kids are pretty happy with what they've done," said Jerry Dal- Canton, Gateway head coach.

"We have seven sophomores, four juniors and only four seniors. It's a pretty young team. At the beginning of the season, we just wanted to get into the playoffs. Now, we want to do some damage in the playoffs and see how far we can go."

Gateway put one in the win column on Monday with a 2-1 victory over rival Penn Hills.

Scott Cavrak went the distance to pick up the win. He allowed just the one earned run while scattering four hits, walking four and striking out two.

The Gator offense produced six hits.

Rob Kalkstein had two of those hits. One of the hits was a double. He also drove in one of the two Gateway runs.

Also tallying hits were Tom Briley, Mike Mulkerin, Adam Felton and Cavrak. Felton drove in the other Gator run.

"The team is quite upbeat right now," DalCanton said.

"We've grown together as a team. We try to tell the kids that they need to play for each other and for the overall success of the team. Continuity will carry us in the playoffs. Team success will lead to individual success."