CENTRE COUNTY — After two opening scrimmage losses to Neumann-Goretti and Maryland’s John Carrol at John Carroll, the State College baseball team had to regroup for the Mid Penn opener against visiting Altoona, on Monday, March 24.
The plan was to start strong in the first conference game, but that was immediately in trouble when the Mountain Lions shot out to a 6-0 lead after two innings.
Altoona used two doubles and four RBIs by Dante LaRocco to take the early lead with two runs in the first inning and then four more in the second.
State College, however, had some answers.
In the bottom of the third inning, RBIs by Jack Coleman and Austin Harter cut the Altoona lead to 6-2, and then in the fourth inning, five walks, a wild pitch and singles by Ryden Walker and Finn Powers plated five runs for SC and jumped the Lions into a 7-6 lead.
From there, both team’s pitchers took over and neither team scored another run.
State College’s Cody Norman started the game and he was followed by Jude Scavone, who threw three innings of one-hit baseball, and Sebastian Rhodes, who pitched the final two innings without giving up a hit or run.
SC collected seven hits overall with Powers getting two and Rhodes, Walker, Max Herncane and Michael Powell each adding one. Walker led the team with two RBIs.
The win was the first of the season for the Lions, and the team will now see Central Mountain at home and travel to Chambersburg on Monday, April 1.
BELLEFONTE 1-1
Led by a 12-hit attack and the one-hit pitching of Zach Lehman and Peyton Vancas, the Bellefonte Raiders baseball team evened its record at 1-1 with a five-inning, 10-0 victory over Clearfield on Friday, March 21, at Clearfield.
The Raiders scored in every inning with three runs in the first and then the closing three more in the top of the fifth.
Vancas, Lehman and Parker Capparelle each had big hits in the opening inning rally, and then Lehman hit a two-run single in the fifth to lift his team to the 10-0 victory.
On the mound, Lehman threw four innings and gave up no hits, no runs, walked one and struck out five.
The win came after an earlier 10-2 loss at DuBois on Tuesday, March 18.
In that game, both teams came in with eight hits, but the Raiders committed five errors that led to five unearned runs.
Vancas had two hits and an RBI, but Bellefonte could not recover from an early 9-0 DuBois lead.
Next up for the Raiders will be a home game against Central on Thursday, March 27, and then an away game at Huntingdon on Wednesday, April 2.
PHILIPSBURG OSCEOLA 2-0
The Philipsburg-Osceola Mounties baseball team is off to a flying start in 2025.
After a razor-thin win over Huntingdon in the opener on Tuesday, March 18, the Mounties trampled Bishop Guilfoyle, 16-2, at home on Friday, March 21, to go 2-0 to begin the new campaign.
At Huntingdon on the 18th, the Mounties escaped with a last-inning, 5-4 victory over the LHAC Bearcats.
Mountie Sam McDonald singled and stole two bases in the top of the seventh inning, and Lucas Peterson and Zach Yoder each drove in a run as Philipsburg scored two runs in the inning to take a 5-3 lead.
Huntingdon, however, struck back in the bottom on an RBI single by pitcher Brock Bryson that cut the P-O lead to a run and left two runners on base with just one out.
It was at this point that Archer Baughman, who homered earlier in the game, came in to relieve Zach Yoder on the mound.
The game was close all the way. Huntingdon took a 2-0 lead going into the third inning, but Baughman tied it with a shot to right field that scored Connor Guenot ahead of him.
The Bearcats went ahead on an unearned run in the bottom of the third inning, but Fischer White scored Baughman in the fifth on a fielder’s choice and the team went into the final two innings tied 3-3.
In the crucial seventh, McDonald led off with a single and promptly stole second and third base, putting the go-ahead run on third with no outs.
Baughman walked, and Peterson followed with a sacrifice fly that scored McDonald and put the Mounties ahead 4-3.
White and Yoder hit consecutive singles with Baughman scoring on Yoder’s hit and giving P-O an insurance run they eventually very badly needed.
In the bottom of the seventh, Huntingdon closed it to within 5-4, but Baughman’s two strikeouts emphatically closed the door on the rally.
Against Guilfoyle on Friday, March 21, in Philipsburg, things were over quickly.
P-O scored nine runs in the first inning and then five more in the second to take a 14-0 lead.
Guilfoyle scored its only two runs in the third, but the Mounties scored two more in the fourth and then closed out the game in the top of the fifth.
P-O had 12 hits and 13 RBIs in the game led by Baughman, Parker Lamb, Lucas Peterson, Fischer White and Zach Yoder.
Baughman took the win on the mound with five innings pitched, two runs, two hits and five strikeouts.
P-O will now take on Hollidaysburg and Central Cambria at home on Thursday, March 27 and Friday, March 28.
SAINT JOSEPH’S CATHOLIC ACADEMY 1-1
There’s nothing wrong with the Saint Joseph’s Catholic Academy’s offense.
The WolfPack scored 21 runs and knocked out 21 hits in their first two games of the 2025 season, although both were not wins.
Against Glendale in their opener, SJCA was down 6-2 going into the bottom of the fifth inning and then exploded for eight runs to take a 10-6 lead.
The Tide answered with three runs in the sixth to close to within 10-9, but the WolfPack added another run in the sixth and then hung on through the seventh to take the 11-9 win.
CJ Grove and Braeden Miller led the team in hitting, while Grove took the win on the mound and Charles Ramos got a save.
On Monday, March 24, against East Juniata, the scenario was exactly the opposite.
The WolfPack jumped out to a big lead, 9-2, but East Juniata rallied for nine runs in the top of the sixth inning to take an exciting, 14-10 victory.
SJCA knocked out 11 hits with Miller getting three and Caleb Foytack adding two, but the ‘Pack could not respond after the EJH rally in the sixth.
SJCA is now 1-1 with Juniata, Newport and Line Mountain coming up on the schedule.
BALD EAGLE AREA 1-2
The Bald Eagle Area baseball team began the 2025 season with a rousing, 14-4 victory over Bishop Guilfoyle at home on Tuesday, March 18.
The Bald Eagles scored in every inning and overcame an early 3-2 deficit with four runs in the bottom of the second inning and then three more in the bottom of the third inning.
On the mound, Wyatt Kowalczyk took the win with seventh inning help from Graysen White.
Brayden Dubbs led the offense with three hits, four RBIs and two runs, while Connor Perry had three hits, three runs and two RBIs.
Since that win, however, the Eagles have lost games to Tyrone, 11-4, on Wednesday, March 19 and nonconference DuBois, 11-2, on Saturday, March 21.
In both games, BEA fell behind early and could not recover.
Next up for the Eagles will be a home game against Huntingdon on Thursday, March 27, followed by an away, nonconference game at Mount Union on Friday, March 28.
PENNS VALLEY 0-3
The Penns Valley Rams have yet to get their offense moving in three early season losses.
On Monday, March 17, the Rams played Juniata close until Juniata broke away with five runs in the sixth inning and then took a 7-2 win.
PV outhit Juniata 8-6 but committed four errors and allowed seven unearned runs.
Then on Tuesday, March 18, the Rams were held to just two hits in a close, 3-0 loss at Tyrone.
Tyrone scored single runs in the first, second and sixth innings and then held off PV for the win.
Finally, on Wednesday, March 19, at home against LHAC foe Central Martinsburg, the Rams were again held without a run in a 10-0 loss to the Dragons.
The loss was the third of the season for PV with Bishop Guilfoyle, Homer-Center and Mount Union coming up on the schedule.
