Baseball

Big sixth spells doom for Penn Cambria

Penn Cambria faced the daunting task of going up against a senior-laden Bellefonte baseball team that is battle tested from Mountain League play in the District 6 Class 4A championship game Tuesday at Peoples Natural Gas Field.

For five innings, the Panthers were right there, but a big sixth inning helped the Raiders pull away and capture another district title, 12-3. Bellefonte will play the third seed from District 3 on Monday in the first round of the PIAA playoffs. Penn Cambria ended its season at 7-11.

"They have nothing to be ashamed of and should keep their heads held high," Penn Cambria coach James Poldiak said. "They competed. Bellefonte just got hot for two innings. They put the ball in play, and we couldn't come up with hits and kept hitting it right at them. They found holes, but I thought (Penn Cambria starting pitcher) Vinny (Chirdon) threw a heck of a game. We went back and forth until they had that big inning. Hitting is contagious, and they got hot."

Penn Cambria took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Zach Grove drew a walk from Bellefonte starter Seth Shuey and eventually scored on a Vinny Chirdon single. Chirdon added another RBI single in the fifth inning.

Bellefonte went ahead 2-1 in the second inning, but Garrett Harrold tied the game by driving in Grove, who had walked again, with an RBI single.

"This will only boost our confidence when we come back out here," said Harrold, who is only a sophomore. "We're going to get a lot of experience out of this, and this is a big stage for us. I think we came out a little bit nervous, but I think in the years to come, we'll be a little more ready for this."

Chirdon had his only clean inning in the bottom of the third inning, but Bellefonte's bats started to get to him in the bottom of the fourth inning. After Max Rogers flew out to start the inning, Trevor Johnson, Zach Swanger, Braedyn Kormanic and Triston Heckman had consecutive hits, but to Chirdon's credit, he limited the damage to three runs.

"I thought both pitchers did really well," Harrold said. "It was close for a long time, and then they just had that one big inning. It kind of fell apart for us when they got hot, but that's what good teams do."

Trailing by just three, Penn Cambria got a leadoff walk from Jon Zernick against Bellefonte relief pitcher Derek Fravel, but Fravel responded by getting a strikeout and a double play to end the inning.

The Raiders scored six runs before recording an out in the bottom of the inning.

"I think this is a tremendous experience for our younger guys," Poldiak said. "To play on a stage like this is important. I told them that we're young, and God-willing, we expect to be back here next year."

Bellefonte has 11 seniors. Penn Cambria has just four, and only one, Brodie O'Donnell, who went 1-for-3 while playing the outfield, started.

The Raiders improved to 11-6, but four of their six losses came against two teams.

"I think the Mountain League is the best baseball league in the state," Bellefonte coach Jon Clark said. "There is not a team on the schedule that's a piece of cake. Anyone can come out and beat anybody, any day. We battled Central and Tyrone in doubleheaders this year, and we came out on the short end in all four of those games, but other than one, we were in every single game. It was a playoff-type atmosphere. It's a bummer we're losing Central from the league next year, but rumor has it Hollidaysburg is going to be joining. So, you lose one good team and add another one, which is exciting. You're going to get 14 playoff-type games, and none are ever easy, even if some team is having a down year, they can rise to the occasion. It's a huge advantage playing in this league."

PENN CAMBRIA (3): Semelsberger ss 400, Grove cf 120, Long ph 100, Harrold c 311, Chirdon p 402, Little 3b 200, Buck 2b 000, Falger p 000, Zernick dh 200, Yeoman 1b 300, Shuagis rf 301, O'Donnell lf 301. Totals--26-3-5.

BELLEFONTE (12): Marsh 1b 210, Capparelle 2b 321, D. Fravel 3b-p 312, Horner cr-pr 010, Shuey p-lf-rf 312, G. Fravel cr 000, Rogers lf-rf 401, McAndrew lf 000, Johnson rf 311, Tooker 3b 100, Dann cf 000, Swanger dh 411, Kormanic c 302, Ivcic cr 030, Heckman ss 212. Totals--28-12-12.

SCORE BY INNINGS

Penn Cambria 101 010 0--3 5 4

Bellefonte 110 316 X--12 12 2

E--O'Donnell 2, Harrold 2, Kormanic, Tooker. 2B--Shuagis, Chirdon, Kormanic, Rogers, Shuey 2. 3B--Swanger. RBI--Chirdon 2, Harrold, Capparelle 2, Shuey 2, Rogers 2, Marsh, D. Fravel, Swanger, Kormanic, Heckman.

PITCHING

Penn Cambria: Chirdon (L)--5+IP, 11 H, 6 BB, 3 K, 11 R, 11 ER, 101 pitches. Falger--1 IP, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 K, R, 0 ER, 19 pitches.

Bellefonte: Shuey (W)--5 IP, 4 H, 3 BB, 4 K, 3 R, 3 ER, 90 pitches. D. Fravel (S)--2 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 2 K, 0 R, 0 ER, 34 pitches.

Records: Penn Cambria (7-11); Bellefonte (11-6).