State College rolls past BEA 11-1 in Little League action

MILESBURG — Fans and family members surrounded the perimeter of the field as State College and Bald Eagle Area got set July 3 to compete for a spot in the bracket finals of the district Little League tournament. State College got the victory, 11-1.

The first two innings came and went with no damage done to either side, besides a base runner or two.

In the top of the third, BEA put two runners on with singles. The second single bounced off the ankle of State College starting pitcher Charlie Bakken. Bakken didn’t bat an eye as he stepped back onto the rubber and struck out the next batter for the final out of the inning. He struck out two during the third, and would finish the game with six.

The bottom of the third got out of hand quickly. With two outs and the bases loaded, Bakken stepped up to the plate. Early in, he swung at a high pitch and sent it deep over the left field fence for a grand slam.

Up 4-0, the next two batters reached base on singles. A double steal placed them on second and third. Joey Franklin smacked a two-RBI single to right field and the next batter grounded out to end the inning.

Bakken made quick work of BEA in the top of the fourth, allowing one base runner on a bean ball.
With one out and two on in the next half inning, Bakken struck again. His swing sent a three-run home run to the right field scoreboard to make it 9-0.

State College’s shutout bid ended with a sacrifice-groundout by Gavin Eckley that scored Dalton Kline.
Luke Janac was hit by a pitch to start the fifth and scored during the next at bat on a fielding error. With two on and two out, Adam

Cooper scalded the ball to the gap in left-center to drive in two walk-off runs.

After holding a meeting with his team post-game, head coach Greg Albert had compliments for his pitcher.

“(Getting six runs in the third inning was) huge,” said Albert. “Charlie Bakken pitched a heck of a ball game tonight, to come in with a grand slam and follow up with a three-run homer as well, he just had a tremendous night. Hats off to him, he did a great job and came to play tonight.”

Bakken was modest post-game. Runners on base didn’t bother him on the mound.
“Most of the time, I was thinking that my defense behind me is pretty good,” said Bakken. “I think that we have this and if they do score runs we can get them back. I was pretty confident up there.”

Heading into the finals against, Albert believes his team can end games even faster.

“We left some guys on base tonight,” said Albert. “We scored when we could but we left some runs out there on the field. We’ll clean that up in practice this week and get ready to go for Saturday night.”