Baseball

Lions end 10-year drought

By Matt Michelone

For the Mirror

When the 2022 high school baseball season began, there wasn't a lot of high expectations around the Altoona Mountain Lions. They were predicted to finish in last place in the Mid-Penn Conference Commonwealth Division.

But not only did they win their division, they ended a drought that goes back to when the current players were still in elementary school in convincing fashion.

It took awhile for the Mountain Lion bats Saturday night to get going, but once they did, they ended up pounding rival State College, 10-0, in six innings to win the District 6 Class 6A championship at Peoples Natural Gas Field.

"I couldn't have asked for a better senior year," Altoona centerfielder Lucas Muffie said. "I love the guys that I play with. We started out the year 1-4, we never got down about it. We won 10 conference games in a row.

"Coming into this game, we had all the confidence."

This is the program's first district title since 2012 when Altoona captured the class 4A crown.

"I knew what we were coming into," Mountain Lion pitcher Evan Alwine said. "I knew it's been 10 years since the last time we won a district championship. I really wanted this for our coach, and I put my heart into this game."

Things started off like a pitchers duel before Muffie -- on a line drive to right-centerfield -- drove in Aidan Steinbugl to break the ice in the bottom of the fourth.

The Little Lions had a chance to answer in the top of fifth with a runner at second thanks to a T.J. Yoder double. Alwine struck out two of the next three batters and recorded a pop out to end the threat.

"He was around the plate, forced them to hit the ball," Altoona coach Tom Smith said. "That's a team you don't want to throw too many fastballs to. He was out in front the majority of the hitters which was a good thing."

Alwine pitched a complete game allowing five hits, striking out eight and walking two.

"We were throwing a lot of curves and off-speed pitches because there were a couple of hitters we don't want to throw fast balls to," Smith said. "When were forced to, they squared them up. We were just thankful they just hit them right at somebody."

The Mountain Lion bats didn't waste time in their half of the fifth as Muffie drove in his second right of the day in on a single to make it 2-0. Muffie went 2-for-3 with two runs scored.

"He's been a solid player for us all year," Smith said of Muffie. "He's a very good hitter. In a close game when you can add on like that, that one run felt like it might've been two, three, four.

"The other guys coming behind him they were patient, they didn't try to do too much and they either put the ball in play and took their walks."

The Mountain Lions kept pouring it on as Connor Blough with a two-run line drive to make it 5-0.

Moving into the sixth that patience paid off for the Mountain Lions as they drew five walks which helped drive in a pair of runs.

"We've stressed (avoiding walks) a lot all year," State College coach Jeremy Dinsmore said. "Towards the end of the game it wasn't our opportunity, it wasn't our time."

The Mountain Lions triggered the 10-run rule on an RBI-single from Alwine. He was 2-for-4 at the plate for the afternoon.

"We knew our skill level, our skill set coming into this season," Alwine said. "We knew we had what it takes to be a top team in this league. We did everything we could to prove analysts wrong."

Altoona will now turn their attention to McDowell in the District 6-10 subregional playoff game set for Thursday at Mount Aloysius.

STATE COLLEGE (0): Baaken rf 200, Cooper dh 301, Bendik p-1b 000, Shannon 3b 000, Messina 1b-p 201, Schimony c 301, Bechtel cr 000, Herzing 3b-ss 300, Ryan ss-p 200, Yoder lf 201, Weaverling 2b 201, Summerson rf 200. Totals: 21-0-5.

ALTOONA (10): Moyer 3b 310, Steinbugl ss 321, Muffie cf 322, Rhodes rf 411, Blough 3b 322, Hileman lf 311, Bettwy c 101, Saylor 1b 000, Riccio dh 200, Alwine p 412, LaRocco cr 010. Totals: 26-10-10.

SCORE BY INNINGS

State College 000 000 X - 0 5 2

Altoona 000 145 X - 10 10 0

E - Yoder, Herzing. 2B - Yoder; Alwine. RBI - Muffie 2, Rhodes, Blough 2, Hileman, Riccio, Alwine.

PITCHING COMPARISON

STATE COLLEGE: Bendik (L), 4 1/3 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 2 SO; Ryan 2 IP, 3 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 5 BB 1 SO; Messina 0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO.

ALTOONA: Alwine (W), 6 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 8 SO.

Record: State College (9-10); Altoona (14-5).