CENTRE COUNTY — The 2026 PIAA Baseball Tournament opened on Monday, and both Centre County representatives came away with impressive first round wins.
The Bellefonte Raiders collected nine hits and 11 runs behind the stellar pitching of Zach Lehman and took out Elizabeth Forward, 11-1, on Monday.
Philipsburg-Osceola traveled to Ellwood City and took a 4-1 win behind the two-hit pitching of Archer Baughman.
Here is a closer look at each game and the Quarterfinal matchups:
BELLEFONTE 11, ELIZABETH FORWARD 1
Playing in the PIAA 4A first round at home in Governor’s Park, Bellefonte’s Oliver Thornburg came to the plate in the bottom of the sixth inning with his team ahead 9-1 over Elizabeth Forward and with two men on base.
Thornburg, who was already on base twice in the game, smashed a double to left field that scored both Zach Lehman and Evan Mattern and sent the Raiders into the quarterfinals.
Thornburg’s hit made the score 11-1 and ended the Elizabeth Forward game under the 10-run rule, giving Bellefonte its 18th win and probably the biggest win of the season.
Behind the shutdown pitching of Zach Lehman, the Raiders had taken an 8-0 lead in the fourth inning, and after Elizabeth scored its only run in the top of the sixth, Thornburg capped the three-run inning that ended the game.
Earlier, Braeden Fortney and Lehman both knocked in a run in the third inning, and then Bellefonte scored six more runs in the fourth after hits by Mattern (2) and Thornburg, three walks and two costly Elizabeth Forward errors.
The inning ended with Bellefonte ahead 8-0 and on the way to win No. 18.
On the mound, Lehman was in control the entire way. He gave up just one hit and one run while striking out 10 and walking two. He threw 5.2 innings and Carsen Henry came in to get the final out in the sixth inning.
The win sets up a quarterfinal matchup against District 12 runner up Archbishop Wood from Warminster.
AB Wood is 18-5 for the season and finished third in the Philadelphia Catholic League with a conference record of 10-4.
The Vikings are led on offense by seniors Caden Vacca, .433, Chase Cavallaro, .425, and Cubby Bailey, .339. Vacca had 26 hits this season, 30 RBIs and 7 extra-base hits.
On the mound, senior Brady Sell was 7-1 with 55 innings pitched and an ERA of .089.
In the First Round PIAA game, Wood upset previously unbeaten Northern Lebanon, the District 3 Champion, 2-1 behind the pitching of Sell and a run in the top of the sixth inning.
The game is scheduled for Thursday, June 4 at a site and time to be announced.
PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA 4, ELLWOOD CITY 1
The Philipsburg-Osceola Mounties were upset in the District 6 finals by Tyrone and drew a tough matchup against WPIAL Champion Ellwood City on Monday afternoon in the PIAA 3A first round in Ellwood City.
But with an outstanding pitching performance by senior Archer Baughman and a three-run double by Nick DeSimone, the Mounties overcame it all with a clutch, 4-1 victory.
With the game scoreless in the top of the fourth inning, the Mounties loaded the bases with a walk, an error and a single by Demarcus Law.
That brought DeSimone with one out and he promptly ripped a double to right field that scored Fischer White, Zach Yoder and Law and gave the Mounties a 3-0 lead.
P-O made it 4-0 on an RBI single by Yoder in the top of the sixth that scored Parker Lamb.
That score held until the bottom of the seventh.
With Baughman still on the mound and working on a shutout, Ellwood put two men on base with one out on a walk and a hit batter.
Then Nate Kennedy made it 4-1 with an RBI single and that brought the tying run to the plate.
Baughman, however, was not about to give in. Two pitches later, he got a grounder for out No. 2.
Three pitches after that, it was out No. 3 on a strikeout, and the Mounties were headed to the Quarterfinals.
Baughman finished with a complete game two-hitter with one run, two walks and nine strikeouts.
Connor Guenot, Lamb, Yoder, Law and DeSimone all had hits for P-O.
The win, P-O’s 15th, qualified the Mounties for the PIAA 3A quarterfinals against 10-1 Fairview (17-1) on Thursday, June 4 at a site to be announced.
Fairview advanced with a 3-1 win over 7-4 Riverside on Monday thanks to a stellar pitching performance by Robert Benford who gave up just one hit and one run in four innings.
Benford was also big at the plate with two hits and an RBI that put his team in the lead, 2-1, in the fourth inning.
The winner of Thursday’s showdown will play in the semifinals against either 6-1 Tyrone or 7-2 South Park on Monday, June 8.
