CENTRE COUNTY — In local high school baseball news, five of the six Centre County teams have qualified for the 2026 District 6 Tournament with games beginning as early as Friday, May 15.
Bald Eagle Area, Bellefonte, Philipsburg-Osceola, St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy and State College will all move on to the tournament, while Penns Valley’s slow start this year kept the Rams from qualifying.
Bald Eagle Area
The Bald Eagles completed an impressive 14-win regular season with a tough, 4-3 victory over Huntingdon on Monday afternoon at home in Wingate.
BEA went into the seventh inning against the Bearcats with a 4-1 lead but then had to hold on through a late rally to take the one-run victory.
After Isaac Johnson and Kaden Clark drove in runs in the bottom of the sixth inning and gave the Eagles a 4-1 lead, Huntingdon quickly closed the gap with a two-run home run by Brock Bryson and then put the tying run on base with a single by Erick Rupert.
Evan Edmiston followed Rupert with a double but throws by left fielder Clark and shortstop Luke Hosband nailed Rupert at home and saved the win.
On the mound, Kaleb Irion threw a complete-game nine-hitter with six strikeouts and three earned runs.
The win secured the D6, No. 2 seed in the 3A rankings for the Eagles who will now advance to the tournament.
BEA will match up against old LHAC rival Central (10-9) in the first round on Monday, May 18 at home.
BEA escaped at home on April 21 with an 8-6 victory over the Dragons after scoring three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. At the time, the win was the sixth in a row for the Eagles and was one of the key victories in the 2026 season.
The winner of the game will advance to the semifinals against either No. 3 Huntingdon or No. 6 Tyrone on May 22.
Bellefonte
Speaking of the Central Dragons, the Bellefonte Raiders wrapped up a 15-4 season on Monday with a 3-1 win over the Dragons in their final regular season qualifying win.
Pitchers Carsen Henry and Zach Lehman combined to throw a four-hit, one-run game with just one walk and four strikeouts.
Central did threaten with a run in the top of the seventh, but after an RBI double made the score 3-1, Lehman struck out the next batter to save the win.
Parker VonGunden and Evan Mattern each had two hits and two RBIs in the game.
Bellefonte will now advance into the D6 4A tournament in which the Raiders are the defending champions.
Last season, Bellefonte won the title with a 10-0 win over Juniata then then advanced to the PIAA tournament with a regional win over Obama Academy, 15-0.
This year, the Raiders will again match up against Juniata in the D6 championship on Wednesday, May 20 at Governor’s Park in Bellefonte.
Penns Valley
Showing gradual improvement throughout the season, the Rams finished their year with a solid 7-3 victory over Bishop Guilfoyle in Altoona on Monday.
PV scored five runs in the sixth and seventh innings and relief pitcher Isaac Harpster threw three scoreless innings as the Rams held off the Marauders.
The Rams knocked out nine hits with Parker Feltenberger, Rylan Birge, Rylan Allegretto and Carter Neideigh each getting two while Allegretto and Neideigh each drove in two runs.
The win was the third for PV after the team began 2026 with just one win in its first 12 games.
Philipsburg-Osceola
Despite losing its final regular season game, the Philipsburg-Osceola baseball team will retain its No. 4 seed and host Marion Center in the First Round of the District 6 Baseball tournament at home on Monday, May 18.
Hosting LHAC foe Hollidaysburg on Monday, the Mounties could not overcome a 7-1 deficit at fell, 7-5, to the Tigers.
Fischer White had three hits for P-O and Parker Lamb drove in four runs, but scoring four runs over the final three innings were not enough to overcome Hollidaysburg.
Even with the loss, however, the Mounties kept their position in the rankings and will see Marion Center at home.
Marion Center is 12-5 this season and will come into the game with a seven-game winning streak.
In its last two games, Marion Center scored a total of 31 runs in wins over River Valley and Penns Manor.
The game will begin at 4 p.m. in Philipsburg, and the winner will likely face No. 1 Richland (14-5) at Richland on Friday, May 22 in the semifinals.
St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy
The No. 4 seed SJCA baseball team will face No. 5 Homer Center on May 18 in the first round of the District 1A baseball tournament.
The WolfPack will come into the game after winning three of their last four games and evening their record at 9-9.
In the final regular season game, however, SJCA fell to conference foe Halifax, 11-1, after the Wildcats scored five runs in the top of the sixth inning to end the game under the 10-run rule.
The loss, however, did not affect the team’s No. 4 seed and the WolfPack will now take on Homer Center at home.
Homer Center is 11-9 for the season and it won its final two games of the season with a combined score of 15-3.
Senior Brayden Rado leads the offense for HC with a .382 average and he’s followed by Drew Fisher with a .381 average.
Rado and senior Nash Budner are the top pitchers with a combined record of 5-3.
The winner will likely face No. 1 Juniata Valley (13-5) in Alexandria on Friday, May 22.
State College
The State College Little Lion baseball team finished its season with two non-league losses against Hazleton, 18-4, and DuBois, 4-1.
Against DuBois on Monday at home, DuBois was able to take an early three-run lead that SC was unable to overcome in the three-run loss.
Michael Powell and Devontae Hardison each had two hits for the Lions and Lucas Bierly drove in the only run.
The loss left State College with an 8-12 record for the year and the No. 3 seed in the D6 6A rankings.
State College will now enter the tournament and face No. 2 Altoona on Thursday, May 14 at 4 p.m. in Altoona.
The Lions have already faced the Mountain Lions twice with a win and a loss.
The first meeting was a close, 9-8 win for State College but Altoona struck back with a 10-3 win in their second meeting.
Altoona is 9-10 for the season, and the winner will face No. 1 Mifflin County on May 20 at Mount Aloysius College.
