Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski Altoona's Aidan Steinbugl is pumped after being driven in by Lucas Muffie's two-run homer.

By Michael Boytim

mboytim@altoonamirror.com

EBENSBURG — Altoona’s high school baseball team was picked to finish near the bottom of the Mid-Penn Commonwealth Division.

The Mountain Lions won it.

They had not won a District 6 title in a decade — but ended that streak last week.

Thursday, Altoona had to find a way to beat a Division I pitcher that had everything working.

Once again, the Lions came through.

Evan Alwine out-dueled McDowell senior Dan Snyder, who will pitch for Louisville next year, in Altoona’s 2-0 District 6-10 Class 6A subregional victory at Central Cambria High School. Alwine struck out 10, walked just two and did not allow a hit in a complete-game shutout.

“This has been surprising to everyone, but I knew we had this in us deep down,” Alwine said. “We’re excited right now. I think we can go all the way. I think we have it in us.”

Alwine also was the winning pitcher in Altoona’s District 6 championship win over State College, just the program’s eighth championship and first since 2012.

“It’s been nothing short of amazing for all 17 of these kids,” Altoona coach Tom Smith said. “We started out slow, but we made some adjustments and moved some guys around, and we have caught fire. We’re giving ourselves a chance to win games. We might not win them, but we’re giving ourselves a chance late in the game to win, and these guys are finding a way to win them.”

Thursday’s victory in a constant rain was highlighted by a masterful performance by Alwine, a junior right-hander.

“(Alwine) was great all day,” McDowell coach Vinny Carone said. “In the seventh inning, he threw a first-pitch curveball in the dirt. I turned to the umpire and said ‘that’s the first time he hasn’t thrown that first-pitch curveball for a strike all game long,’ and he just had everything working. He had a good fastball, change and slider. He had us off balance. We had been on fire and hitting well, so it wasn’t us not having bats. It was him being really good. We had won 11 in a row and have been hitting the ball and feeling good about ourselves, but he really settled in and was as good of a pitcher as we saw all year.”

Snyder was nearly as good, allowing just four hits, but one of those came in the form of a two-out, two-run home run by Lucas Muffie on an 0-2 count in the bottom of the third inning.

“He hung a little curveball there,” Muffie said. “I was expecting a slider outside, but I was sitting on it pretty well and got a good swing on it. I thought I caught it off the end of the bat, so I wasn’t sure it was gone, but I guess I got enough.”

Following Muffie’s home run that scored Aidan Steinbugl, who had walked, Alwine retired the next six McDowell batters in order.

“That took a lot off my shoulders,” Alwine said. “To put up two runs in this situation, it feels like 10 at that point.”

Altoona will play Upper Saint Clair, which lost 2-1 to Mount Lebanon in the WPIAL championship, on Monday at a District 6 site.

“Nobody expected this. That’s why it feels so much better,” Muffie said. “Being the underdog and coming all this way feels great.”

The Mountain Lions improved to 15-6, and Connor Blough had two of Altoona’s four hits.

“Phenomenal performance by Evan,” Smith said. “Two great efforts by the pitchers. Their pitcher was spot-on, so solid. All the difference was one pitch that our best hitter took advantage of, and that’s the difference in the game.”

McDOWELL (0): Deitz cf 300, King ss 300, Snyder p 100, Banks 2b 300, Hower lf 300, DeHaas 1b 000, I. Chylinski dh 300, Demski c 300, J. Chylinski cr 000, Ogrodowczyk rf 300, Samluk 3b 200. Totals–23-0-0.

ALTOONA (2): Moyer 3b 301, Steinbugl ss 210, Muffie cf 311, Rhodes rf 300, Blough 2b 302, Hileman lf 100, Bettwy c 300, Alwine p 200, Saylor 1b 000, Riccio dh 100. Totals–21-2-4.

SCORE BY INNINGS

McDowell 000 000 0–0 0 1

Altoona 002 000 X–2 4 2

E–Samluk, Moyer 2. HR–Muffie. RBI–Muffie 2.

PITCHING

McDowell: Snyder (L)–6IP, 4H, 5K, 2BB, 2HBP, 2R, 2ER, 81 pitches.

Altoona: Alwine (W)–7IP, 0H, 10K, 2BB, 0R, 0ER, 98 pitches.

Records: McDowell (15-6); Altoona (15-6).