Photo for the Mirror by Chuck Meyers Home plate umpire Mike Seiler rules Central’s Parker Gregg safe after a collision with Tyrone catcher Landon Hamer.

Prior to the championship game of the Curve Classic, the closest game the Central baseball team had played was a 10-1 victory over Chestnut Ridge while winning 12 straight games.

Saturday afternoon at PNG Field, a familiar opponent finally tested the Scarlet Dragons, and coach A.J. Hoenstine was thrilled with the response from his team.

Central jumped out to a four-run lead against defending Curve Classic and PIAA Class 3A champion Tyrone, but the Golden Eagles got a three-run triple from Luke Brooks in the fifth inning to threaten the Dragons’ perfect season and bid to recapture the tournament title.

Central answered by batting around in the bottom of the inning and scoring seven runs, capped by Paxton Kling’s three-run home run to all but seal the championship in an eventual 12-6 victory.

“You never want a tight game, I guess, but we needed that,” Hoenstine said. “I was really happy to see the way we responded. We hit some balls really hard that inning and had some great at bats. We came through, and they did what they are supposed to do in that situation.”

Curve Classic MVP Devon Boyles got it started with a one-out single and scored on a triple by Hunter Smith. Jonah Snowberger followed with an RBI single, Ty Helsel walked and Parker Gregg drove in a run on a groundout.

Dalton Metzger hit an RBI single, Griffin Snowberger singled and Kling cleared the bases with a shot into the left-field bleachers.

“We were a little tense the whole game today,” Kling said. “It was nice to see we could bounce back, because we haven’t had that happen to us all year. It was nice to see that fire in us when that happened, and hopefully we can keep doing that all year if something like that happens again.”

Boyles had four hits total Saturday in the win over Tyrone and a 13-1 triumph over Northern Bedford in the semifinals earlier that morning. He also blasted a three-run walk-off home run in an 18-3 triumph over Bishop Guilfoyle in the quarterfinals on Thursday.

“We came out and looked like (Tyrone cutting the Central lead to 4-3) didn’t even phase us,” Boyles said. “We just put up seven right away, and I’m really happy with that.”

Boyles, Gregg and Griffin Snowberger all had two hits in the championship game against Tyrone starting pitcher Cortlynd Rhoades, who was the winning pitcher in the Eagles’ victory over Central in last year’s Curve Classic.

Until Central’s big inning, it looked like he might be able to do it again.

“Our pitching was big,” Tyrone coach Kevin Soellner said. “We asked him to go out there and take it, don’t walk them and make them earn it, and he did that and gave our guys a chance.”

Tyrone’s pitching was very depleted after needing walk-off wins against Hollidaysburg on Thursday and against Altoona on Saturday just prior to the championship game. The Golden Eagles needed 10 innings to win their semifinal game against the Mountain Lions, 6-5.

In addition to all those innings, Penn State commit Aiden Coleman, who pinch hit against Altoona and did not play against Central, is dealing with an arm injury and may not be able to pitch the rest of his senior season.

“Right now, after we laid a couple eggs, they are fired up now,” Soellner said. “Losing Aiden, you could see they were fretting a little bit, but now they are relaxed and playing well.”

Much of that excitement came from a walk-off win over Altoona with two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning when pinch hitter Jesse Yingling drove home pinch runner Nathaniel Patterson with the game-winning run.

“There was a lot of pressure, but I knew I had to put the ball in play,” Yingling said. “It was so great to see it get through and know we were going to Patterson get in to home plate. I can’t think of a bigger hit that I have ever had.”

The loss snapped a five-game winning streak for the Mountain Lions, who got a game-tying single from Michael Riccio in the bottom of the seventh inning to force extra innings.

“We obviously dug ourselves a hole in that first inning,” Altoona coach Tom Smith said. “To our credit, we battled back and held them to one hit after the first inning into the 10th inning. Credit to our pitchers and their pitchers. Being down 4-0 is never ideal, but we hung with it and had numerous chances to win it, as did they, but just couldn’t get it done.”

Central’s Curve Classic championship is just the first goal on a checklist for the top-ranked team in the state.

“I think everyone is that dugout is fired up about this,” Kling said. “But it’s one step of three. We still have two more to get.”

The Scarlet Dragons won the District 6 title last year over Tyrone but lost to the Eagles in both the Curve Classic and state semifinals.

“It’s always a battle with Tyrone, and I think the guys were excited to play them,” Hoenstine said. “I’m sure that we’ll see them again down the road.”

Soellner’s team fell to 7-5 with the loss, but he was pleased with how his team played.

“I didn’t care about the score,” Soellner said. “I just told them to fight like hell. I’m really happy. We’re obviously down some pitching, and they knew they would have to just fight, and they did that. Good things happen when they fight.”

Despite its 13-0 record, Hoenstine said there’s plenty to work on in the final two weeks of the regular season.

“We still have some work to do, and we still have to play a little bit harder,” Hoenstine said. “There are still some guys competing for jobs, and our goal is always to have our best team out there for the first game of playoffs. Hopefully we can keep it rolling.”

CENTRAL 12, TYRONE 6

TYRONE (6): Walk ss 411, Lang lf 312, Miller pr 010, Gampe 1b 300, Brooks 2b 211, LeGars cf 300, Lehner 3b 211, J. Patterson pr 000, Hamer c 300, N. Patterson cr 000, A.J. Coleman rf 311, Rhoades p 201, Postriech p 000, Yingling dh 201. Totals — 25-6-7.

CENTRAL (12): Kling cf-p 421, Hoenstine ss 310, Boyles 1b 312, Smith c 301, Fisher cr 030, J. Snowberger dh-p 311, Biesinger rf 000, Helsel p-rf-cf 301, Dionis cr 010, Gregg lf 412, Metzger 2b 311, G. Snowberger 3b 212. Totals — 28-12-11.

SCORE BY INNINGS

Tyrone 000 031 2 — 6 7 4

Central 310 071 X — 12 11 1

E–Lehner, LeGars, Hamer, AJ Coleman, Boyles. 3B–Brooks, Smith. RBI–Brooks 3, LeGars, Lehner, Kling 3, Gregg 2, J. Snowberger 2, Metzger, Helsel, Smith.

PITCHING

Tyrone: Rhoades (L) — 4 2/3IP, 11H, 2K, 3BB, 11R, 8ER, 95 pitches; Postriech — 1 1/3IP, 0H, 0K, 2BB, 1HBP, 1R, 1ER, 20 pitches.

Central: Helsel (W) — 5 IP, 6H, 6K, 4BB, 3R, 3ER, 88 pitches; J. Snowberger — 1 IP, 0H, 1K, 2BB, 1R, 0ER, 23 pitches; Kling — 1 IP, 1H, 1K, 2BB, 2R, 2ER, 30 pitches.

Umpires: Mike Seiler (plate), Bill Straesser (bases), Dave Gildea (bases).

Records: Tyrone (7-5); Central (13-0).

CENTRAL 13, NORTHERN BEDFORD 1

NORTHERN BEDFORD (1): Imler cf 200, Musselman lf 300, Francis 1b 000, Bolinger 1b 000, Bowers dh 300, Bowser p-3b 301, E. Snider ss-p-ss 211, Cherry 3b-ss-2b 200, Kochara c 200, Wiedemann rf 100, Helsel rf 000, Gable 2b-p 201. Totals — 20-1-3.

CENTRAL (13): Kling cf 322, Hoenstine ss 232, Boyles 1b 222, Oakes 1b 000, Smith c 100, Biesinger cr 020, Marko c 000, Detwiler p 000, Matthews pr 000, J. Snowberger dh 311, Helsel rf 300, Gregg lf 413, Metzger 2b 211, Dionis 2b 000, G. Snowberger 3b 110. Totals — 21-13-11.

SCORE BY INNINGS

Northern Bedford 010 00X X — 1 3 1

Central 370 3XX X — 13 11 2

E–Cherry, Detwiler, Hoenstine. 2B–Kling. 3B–Gregg. RBI–Boyles 2, Metzger 2, J. Snowberger 2, Smith, Helsel, G. Snowberger.

PITCHING

Northern Bedford: Bowser (L) — 1 IP, 3H, 1K, 3BB, 3R, 3ER, 42 pitches; E. Snider — 2/3IP, 5H, 0K, 4BB, 1HBP, 7R, 7ER, 48 pitches; Gable — 2 1/3IP, 3H, 1K, 1 HBP, 3R, 3ER, 37 pitches.

Central: Detwiler (W) — 5 IP, 3H, 8K, 3BB, 1HBP, 1R, 0ER, 96 pitches.

Umpires: Derrick Soellner (plate); Jim Cushion (bases).

Records: Northern Bedford (5-6); Central (12-0).

TYRONE 6, ALTOONA 5, 10 INNINGS

ALTOONA (5): Moyer 3b 611, Smearman pr 000, Steinbugl ss-p-ss 401, Muffie cf-p 421, Rhodes p-rf-cf 513, Hileman lf 501, Saylor 1b 000, Riccio dh 503, Bettwy c 401, Blough rf-ss 501, Friewald 2b 311. Totals — 41-5-13.

TYRONE (6): Walk ss 410, Lang lf-p 201, Miller pr 010, J. Patterson cr 010, Gampe 1b 411, Brooks p-rf 400, LeGars cf 511, Lehner 3b 401, N. Patterson pr 010, Hamer c 400, Ai. Coleman ph 000, Rhoades 2b 500, A.J. Coleman rf-lf 000, Light dh 300, Yingling ph 101. Totals — 36-6-5.

SCORE BY INNINGS

Altoona 002 200 100 0 — 5 13 4

Tyrone 401 000 000 1 — 6 5 2

E–Moyer 2, Rhodes, Steinbugl, Rhoades, Lang. 2B–Bettwy, Muffie, Lehner, LeGars. RBI–LeGars 2, Gampe, Lehner, Yingling, Muffie, Rhodes, Hileman, Riccio 2.

PITCHING

Altoona: Rhodes — 6 1/3IP, 4H, 5K, 5BB, 5R, 4ER, 93 pitches; Steinbugl — 2/3IP, 0H, 0K, 0BB, 0R, 0ER, 9 pitches; Muffie (L) — 3 IP, 1H, 3BB, 1 HBP, 1R, 1ER, 31 pitches.

Tyrone: Brooks — 3 2/3IP, 8H, 1K, 1BB, 4R, 4ER, 61 pitches; Lang (W) — 6 1/3IP, 5H, 2K, 2BB, 1HBP, 1R, 1ER, 68 pitches.

Umpires: John Garritano (plate); Jay Negri (bases).

Records: Altoona (6-5); Tyrone (7-4).