CENTRE COUNTY — The 2026 District 6 Baseball Playoffs have begun, and the news for our local Centre County teams is partly very good, and partly not-so-good.
Philipsburg-Osceola and Bald Eagle Area both advanced with first round victories on Monday afternoon, while State College lost a heartbreaker to Altoona on May 14 in the Class 6A semifinal. St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy was upset by Homer Center in the Class A quarterfinals on Monday.
Bellefonte, the No. 1 seed in Class 4A, will open against Juniata on May 20 in the final at Governor’s Park.
Here is a look at each of the games.
Philipsburg-Osceola 11, Marion Center 1
The Mounties erupted for seven runs in the bottom of the second inning, added four more in the fourth, and swept to an 11-1 victory over Marion Center on Monday afternoon in the D6, Class 3A quarterfinal in Philipsburg.
On the mound, Archer Baughman and Nick DeSimone combined to throw a one-run, no-hit game with three walks and 10 strikeouts.
In the momentum-changing second inning, P-O sent 11 players to the plate and knocked out seven hits as the Mounties took a quick, 7-0 lead.
The big blow was a two-run triple by Connor Guenot that made it 3-0, and that was followed with RBI hits by Fischer White, Parker Lamb (two-run double) and Zach Yoder.
Marion Center followed with an unearned run in the third inning but P-O answered that immediately.
After two leadoff walks and a hit batter in the fourth, Yoder doubled in two runs to make it 9-0 and then DeSimone drove in run No. 10 on a fielder’s choice. The Mounties’ final run crossed when Demarcus Law scored on a wild pitch with two outs.
Now ahead by 10 runs, DeSimone took the mound in relief and closed out the game with a 1-2-3 fifth inning.
The win was the Mounties 13th overall and qualified the team for the Class 3A semifinals on Friday, May 22 against either No. 1 Richland or No. 9 Central Cambria.
Bald Eagle Area 8, Central Martinsburg 7
Bald Eagle Area’s Kaden Clark singled in Teagun Runkle with the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning as the Bald Eagles advanced with a 8-7 victory over the Central Dragons at BEA on Monday afternoon.
Playing in the District 6, 3A quarterfinal, the Dragons scored two runs in the top of the sixth inning that tied the game at 7-7 and set up BEA’s dramatic victory.
Earlier, after two scoreless innings to begin the game, Central rallied for five runs in the top of the third to take a 5-0 lead.
BEA responded with two runs in the bottom of the third, four in the bottom of the fourth and then made the score 7-5 with a run in the bottom of the fifth.
Luke Hosband drove in two runs in the third with a one-out double and then he hit another two-run double in the fourth that put his team ahead for the first time in the game, 6-5.
An RBI grounder by Riley Bucha put BEA ahead 7-5 in the fifth inning but that lead did not last.
Central tied the game with two runs (unearned) in the top of the sixth, but reliever Runkle kept the Dragons off the board in the seventh and set up the Eagle win in the bottom of the inning.
Runkle relieved Kaleb Irion (8H, 5ER, 3SO) and took the win.
BEA is now 15-5 for the season and will next take on either No. 3 Huntingdon or No. 6 Tyrone in the semifinals on Friday, May 22 at the home of the higher seed.
Altoona 1, State College 0
6A semifinal, May 14 at Altoona
After Altoona’s Talan Palladini walked to open the bottom of the third inning, catcher Tanner Stroup smashed a double to center field that scored Palladini and gave the Mountain Lions a 1-0 lead over State College. That is all there was.
Neither team scored another run and Altoona held on for a 1-0 victory over the Little Lions in the District 6, Class 6A semifinal in Altoona on May 14.
Both pitchers, Cody Norman from State College and Eric McAllister for Altoona, threw gems, but McAllister was given a run by his team and he made it stand up.
McCallister threw a complete game, three-hit shutout with no walks and eight strikeouts.
State College got a single in the first inning by Michael Powell, a single by Rowan Walker in the fourth and a single by Connor Kulka in the sixth.
Otherwise, SC did not have another baserunner as McAllister did not issue a walk and neither team committed an error.
Norman threw six innings with two hits, a run, three walks and eight strikeouts.
The loss ended the Little Lions’ season with a final record of 8-12, while Altoona will now advance to face Mifflin County in the Class 6A final at Mt. Aloysius College on May 20.
Homer Center 16, St. Joe’s 3
D6, A quarterfinals, May 18
No. 5 Homer Center got off to a very fast start against St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy in the D6, Class A quarterfinal on Monday, and then blew the game wide open with 10 runs in the top of the fifth inning.
The result was a 16-3 victory over the WolfPack that ended the SJCA season and sent HCHS to the D6 semifinals.
Homer Center opened the game with a run in the first inning and then took a 6-0 lead with five more in the second inning.
In the third inning, CJ Grove got a run for the ‘Pack with an RBI single, but two innings later, Homer Center sent 16 players to the plate, knocked out six hits, and scored 10 runs on the way to a commanding 16-1 lead.
To its credit, SJCA kept playing and scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth on RBIs by Caleb Foytack and Haden Lingle, but it was not enough to keep the game going.
St. Joe’s ended the season with a final record of 9-10 and Homer Center will now advance to the Semifinals against No. 1 Juniata Valley on Friday, May 22 in Alexandria.
