Trailing by three with their season on the line in the PIAA Class 3A quarterfinals, the Golden Eagles had two runners on, and Connor Zupon hit a rocket up the middle — but South Park pitcher Cooper Hochendoner deflected it off his foot directly to Johnny Parris, who turned an inning-ending double play.

The threat turned out to be Tyrone’s last stand in a 4-1 season-ending loss.

“How about that? A one-four-six-three double play. You don’t see that a whole lot,” South Park coach Corey Fischer said. “That was exciting. Cooper plays soccer, so I don’t know if that helped. Credit to him getting his foot in the way. That was a phenomenal play. We have played great defense this season outside of one inning against Bedford. I have said to these guys since I got the job three years ago that we have to be built on pitching and defense.”

Hochendoner actually credited another sport — or at least hobby — for the play.

Mirror photos by Michael Boytim Tyrone walks off the field Thursday after being eliminated in the state quarterfinals.

“The guys and I were laughing about it, because we play hacky sack before the game and I kicked it like a hacky sack and it went right to our second baseman,” Hochendoner said. “It was really uplifting. That was a big play for sure.”

Brayden Parsons and Jon Stroup led off the bottom of the sixth inning with singles before Wyatt Kustenbauder struck out and Zupon hit the ball up the middle.

Tyrone coach Kevin Soellner, who said he doesn’t do a lot of second-guessing, admitted he was doing that after the game.

“I was going to bunt with my No. 3 hitter (Kustenbauder),” Soellner said. “But I was thinking about how we needed three runs. I talked myself out of bunting, and he struck out. If I bunt him, they get an out but we have runners on second and third and it could have been different.”

It was Tyrone’s first real scoring threat off Hochendoner, who tossed a complete game in just 76 pitches, since the first inning when Stroup had a one-out triple and scored on Kustenbauder’s groundout to give the Golden Eagles a 1-0 lead.

“I thought we would hit the ball a little better. I knew how good he was, but I thought we would put it in play better,” Soellner said. “We got a good start. I thought the next few times through, we might get a few, but that’s baseball.”

Soellner expressed concern about Tyrone’s ability to hit left-handed pitching going into the game after Central lefty Coltin Harbaugh shut the Golden Eagles down in the regular season.

“He held us to one run too,” Soellner said. “I think it’s just us not seeing it. We just have not seen lefties. (Hochendoner) threw well, around 85 or 87, but they made good plays behind him even when we made some hard contact.”

Through three innings, Tyrone was making all the defensive plays it needed to as well. But with one out, Aiden Hays reached on an error and scored on a Robert Lenzi sacrifice fly after a single and a walk loaded the bases.

Hochendoner tripled to lead off the top of the fifth, and Andrew Mittleider drove him home with a single that gave South Park the lead. Stroup came on in relief of starting pitcher Brandon McClure and got a double play, but a wild pitch allowed Mittleider to score.

South Park set the final score when Ryan Lavery doubled in the sixth and scored on Lenzi’s single.

Tyrone managed just five hits off Hochendoner, who came into the game with an 0.81 ERA this season and was able to pitch Thursday because he threw just one inning in a first-round 6-3 win against Bedford.

“I felt very good, and all three of my pitches were working,” Hochendoner said.

The Golden Eagles finished 15-10 but rebounded from a tough start of the season to win the Curve Classic and the school’s second District 6 baseball championship and first since 1992.

“We have probably had physically better teams not achieve as much,” Soellner said. “They achieved far more than they probably even dreamt of before the year. At the end here, they were dreaming of a state championship, but they accomplished a lot.”

Four hitters in Thursday’s starting lineup for Tyrone were seniors — Parsons, Owen Oakes and Brandon and Conner McClure.

“This is a good group,” Soellner said. “I love the two McClure boys to death. I hope they come back and coach someday. They are the kind of kids you want to hand this program over to. Owen is wonderful and the kid you have fun with. Brayden is the smartest kid I have ever had. He does more coaching on the field than anyone.”

Brandon McClure took the loss on the mound despite allowing just one earned run and making several solid defensive plays.

“I’ll always remember the bus rides with the guys and how hard everyone was grinding every day in practice,” Brandon McClure said. “They never gave up. Even when we were 2-5, no one hung their heads. It’s the fight in this group that I’ll remember the most.”

Soellner believes the Golden Eagles will continue to field a competitive team next season.

“We have a good core coming back,” Soellner said. “We lose some important players, but still there’s a lot coming back.”

Despite the loss, McClure thinks his team will look back on the year as a success.

“I feel like we could have done more,” Brandon McClure said. “I’m very proud of this group of guys; we left a good legacy here at Tyrone.”

SOUTH PARK (4): Glowa cf 401, Hochendoner p 403, Cole cr 010, Spitznagel c 100, Hale cr 000, Mittleider 3b 411, Parris 2b 400, Hays rf 410, Oliphant 1b 401, Lavery lf 212, Lenzi ss 202. Totals — 29-4-10.

TYRONE (1): Parsons c 301, Stroup ss-p 312, Kustenbauder cf 300, Zupon 2b 300, C. McClure 1b 302, Oakes rf 300, Plummer lf 300, Frye 3b 200, B. McClure p-ss 200. Totals — 25-1-5.

SCORE BY INNINGS

South Park 000 121 0–4 10 0

Tyrone 100 000 0–1 5 3

E–C. McClure, Zupon, Stroup. 2B–Lavery. 3B–Stroup, Hochendoner. RBI–Lenzi 2, Mittleider, Kustenbauder.

PITCHING

South Park: Hochendoner (W) — 7IP, 5H, 4K, 0BB, 1R, 1ER, 76 pitches.

Tyrone: B. McClure (L) — 4IP, 7H, 0K, 1BB, 1HBP, 3R, 1ER, 62 pitches; Stroup — 3IP, 3H, 4K, 1BB, 1R, 1ER, 33 pitches.

Records: South Park (17-6); Tyrone (15-10).