Bald Eagle Area baseball wins Class 2A state title with dominating win over Mount Union

Bald Eagle Area pitcher Tyler Serb embraced his catcher after the final out Saturday, as his teammates sprinted toward a dogpile near the mound — with outfielders tossing their gloves in the air, most players ditching their hats and players jumping into each others’ arms.

This history-making moment, this 11-0 (5 innings) win over Mount Union in the PIAA Class 2A baseball championship, was something the Eagles said they wouldn’t soon forget.

“It’s definitely amazing, just being out in front of all these people who came out to watch it,” said Serb, who tossed a two-hit shutout in front of a rowdy crowd at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park. “It’s just awesome.”

Players patiently waited for officials to drape gold medals around their necks and smiled when they were presented the championship trophy, the school’s first baseball state title since 2007. They all strained to touch the wooden trophy while photographers snapped photos, trying their best to soak in the moment.

“This means a lot; it’s so special,” second basemen Tayten Yoder said. “This is the biggest game I’ve ever played in.”

Every Bald Eagle Area starter finished with either a run or an RBI, as the Eagles dominated from start to finish in a game where few expected the mercy rule to come into play. After all, these two teams faced one another twice before this season — both BEA wins — in a 1-0 regular-season game that went 10 innings and an 11-5 comeback victory in the District 6 championship, where BEA rallied from a 4-0 deficit.

Mount Union finished the season with a 25-3 record, with all three losses coming to Bald Eagle Area. The Eagles’ record ends at 22-4.

“I couldn’t have dreamt this up,” Eagles coach Jim Gardner said. “This final — an 11-nothing, four-and-a-half inning game — is something I couldn’t have even imagined happening, because (Mount Union) is such a quality program.”

Bald Eagle Area set the tone early. In the bottom of the first, the Eagles took a 3-0 lead after two Mount Union errors, a sacrifice fly and two deep balls that went over the outfielders’ heads. The Eagles added another run in the second — and then exploded for seven runs in the third, the game’s punctuation mark coming on Yoder’s three-RBI, bases-clearing triple that rolled to the warning track and made the game 11-0.

But all of Bald Eagle Area’s success can trace its way back to that early sacrifice fly.

After back-to-back Mount Union errors, by an infielder then an outfielder, cleanup batter Justin Bisel stepped up to the plate with one out and two men in scoring position. He waited on a fastball — but was able to adjust on a curveball, sending it deep enough to left field to drive in a run on a sac fly.

“As soon as I hit it, I knew it was a run,” Bisel added.

Carson Nagle then smacked a ball over the right fielder’s head to drive in another run, and Parker Quick followed that up with a deep ball to right-center to drive in the third.

“Confidence in this game is so huge, and that gave us confidence and maybe hurt them a little bit,” Gardner said about the opening frame. “And then to come back and score and score and score, that just continued to lift us up.”

Serb led all batters with three hits, while Nagle and Quick both added two hits. Yoder paced the Eagles with three RBIs, while Serb and Cameron Watkins each added another pair of RBIs. Nine different Eagles finished with runs.

A group of student BEA fans, in gaudy golden colors, began chanting seemingly every starter’s name by the fourth inning, after the Eagles seized the 11-0 lead and the game seemed all but decided. Mount Union’s fans clapped politely between innings, but it was clear it just wasn’t the District 6 runner-up’s day.

Balls always seemed just a few inches out of reach, whether it was an outfield ball that hopped right in front of a Mount Union player or a groundball that skipped past a few inches past the glove of an infielder. But, when it came to BEA, the opposite held true. Shortstop Kahale Burns even handled one screaming groundball in the later innings — a major-league play, his coach called it — and then whipped it to first base to somehow beat the batter.

Serb finished with three strikeouts and one walk, leaning on the defense to make plays. He allowed a hit against the first batter, calmed down and didn’t allow another again until his team led 11-0.

“I was just continuing to pitch my game,” Serb added. “My defense was behind me. Plus, we already faced them twice, and they hit me a bunch in the district championship. I learned from that, so I was able to keep on pitching.”

Bald Eagle Area’s players high-fived, hugged and leaped in the air after the final out. At several points during the on-field awards ceremony, one teammate would turn to another and say, “We’re state champions” — as if they needed to remind themselves this wasn’t a dream.

For Bald Eagle Area, it was a dream season. But it was also reality. Gardner expressed pride in his players — and didn’t downplay what this meant to the program.

“The experience that we’ve gathered throughout the playoffs and throughout this run and then for the other kids to see this, they’re going to want to be a part of that,” he said. “It just helps for the future.

“So, yeah, this is going to be huge moving forward.”