Raiders defeat Penn Cambria in five innings

ALTOONA — The No. 1 seeded Bellefonte Raiders baseball team claimed the District 6, 4A Championship on June 1 with an impressive 12-3 victory over Penn Cambria at Altoona’s PNG Field.

Bellefonte took an early 2-1 lead over PC, added three runs in the fourth inning, and then put the game away with six more in the bottom of the sixth.

Eight different players had RBIs for the Raiders as they pounded out 12 hits in their 11th win of the season against six losses.

Seth Shuey and Max Rogers had two RBIs each, while Shuey, Derek Fravel, Braedyn Kormanic, and Triston Heckman all had two hits in the game.

On the mound, Shuey pitched five innings, giving up two earned runs on three hits, and Fravel cleaned up in relief with two scoreless innings.

Heckman gave Bellefonte the lead with an RBI single in the second inning that drove in Steve Ivcic.

In the fourth, a single by Trevor Johnson, a triple by Zach Swanger, and singles by Kormanic and Heckman netted three runs and a 5-2 advantage for the Raiders heading into the final three innings.

Then in the deciding sixth inning with Bellefonte ahead 6-3, three walks, three singles, and a two-run double to center field by Rogers increased the lead to 12-3 and stamped the Raiders’ ticket to the 2021 PIAA Tournament.

Fravel allowed two base runners in the seventh, but then got the final two outs on a fly out and a strikeout to end the game.

Bellefonte will now represent District 6 in the PIAA Tournament which will begin on Monday, June 7.

Bellefonte will face the No. 3 team from District 3 — either East Pennsboro or Eastern York.

East Pennsboro (16-1) and Eastern York (16-4) were both upset in the district semifinals and will play in a consolation game on Thursday, June 3. The winner will advance to play Bellefonte at a site and time to be determined.

STATE COLLEGE COMES UP SHORT

The third time is a charm, they say, but in the case of the State College baseball team against Mifflin County, not so much.

For the third time this season, Mifflin County scored in its final at bat and handed the Little Lions a bitter, one-run defeat.

This time, in the District 6, 6A Championship Game on June 1 at PNG Field in Altoona, Colby Bodtorf singled home Jace Shoemaker in the bottom of the sixth inning and lifted his team to a 4-3 win and to the D6 Title.

The two teams were tied, 2-2, in the fifth inning when SC’s Garret Holzapfel’s RBI single scored Matt Lingenfelter and gave the Lions a 3-2 lead.

But Mifflin tied in the bottom of the inning on a bases-loaded walk, setting up Bodtorf’s heroics in the sixth.

Cole Knable, pitching in relief of Connor Cherry for the Huskies, threw a perfect seventh inning to nail down the win.

Mifflin County will now advance to the District 6-10 Sub-Regional to determine the representative for the PIAA Tournament.

State College’s season is over and the Lions ended with a final record of 6-12.