CENTRE COUNTY — Blanchard Bees third baseman Peyton Johnson announced very loudly that the Bees were about to win the 2026 Centre County Baseball League championship when he smashed two, two-run home runs in his first two at bats in Game 4 of the final series.
Playing against the Spike Island Pirates in Philipsburg on July 30, Johnson’s home runs gave Blanchard pitcher Kevin Grenninger more than he needed to complete the Bees’ championship run with what eventually became an 8-0 victory.
Johnson started things immediately with his first two-run shot with one out in the first inning, scoring Toner Corl ahead of him and giving the Bees an early 2-0 lead.
Two innings later, this time with Taten Yoder on base, Johnson connected again and sent one over the left field wall that made it 4-0.
Cayde McCloskey and Jase Seltzer both added RBIs in the same inning and the Bees were suddenly in firm in control with a 6-0 lead.
In the top of the fifth inning, McCloskey hit a leadoff homer to make it 7-0, and then, after hits from Crusen Stover and Seltzer, Gardner Fravel finished the scoring at 8-0 with a sacrifice fly.
On the mound, Grenninger grew stronger as the game progressed. He gave up just three hits in the complete-game shutout with two walks and 11 strikeouts. He retired the last 10 batters he faced in order and allowed only one batter to advance as far as third base.
For the Pirates, Ike Tiracorda, Lukas Colton and Denny Prestash were the only batters to hit safely.
And when Sam McDonald advanced to third base after a single by Tiracorda with two outs in the fourth inning, Grenninger got the final out on a fielder’s choice and ended the threat.
In all, the Bees knocked out 11 hits, five for extra bases, led by McCloskey with three and two each by Johnson and Corl. Johnson and McCloskey combined to drive in six runs with Fravel and Seltzer getting the other two RBIs.
Zac Tiracorda started on the mound for Spike Island and he was relieved by Ryan Whitehead and Hunter Rumsky.
The game marked the end of a remarkable 23-3 season for the Bees and fifth time in the last nine years that they won the CCBL championship.
The latest two titles before 2026 came in 2022 with a win over Howard and in 2023 when the Bees outlasted Spike Island.
Spike Island, the 2024 league champion, finished its season with a record of 21-6.
