CLEARFIELD – Pre-tourney favorite State College snapped a 3-3 tie with four runs in the fifth inning and went on to thump Homer City 18-3 in eight innings to claim the Pennsylvania American Legion Region 7 baseball crown Wednesday afternoon at the Lawrence Township Recreation Park Field.
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The Central Penn League powerhouse, upset 6-5 by Clearfield Tuesday, bounced back to pad its five-game totals to 78 hits and 74 runs.
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Austin Mock was the big gun in the 19-hit attack with a pair of two-run homers, a double and a sacrifice fly for five runs batted in.
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Shane Regel bombed a three-run homer, the champions’ 17th of the tourney, to cap an seven-run outburst in the top of the eighth. He singled for an RBI earlier.
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Trey Nicosia and Matt Fry each had three hits, while Nick Carothers, Will Sefter and Aaron Sallade added two safeties apiece. One of Sefter’s was a solo homer.
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A walk, an error on Nicosia’s double and Mock’s first homer staked Ben Sallade to a 3-0 lead in the first inning, but Homer City (19-10) was able to knot the score.
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Ty Holderbaum drilled an RBI-single in the first and a solo home run, his tourney-leading fifth, in the third. One out later, Cody Trabert doubled scored on Matt Wilden’s single.Â
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Scott Harsh, who worked six innings for his second tourney win in a 25-2 semifinal rout against Clearfield , kept the Indiana County League champs in it until finally tiring in the fifth, when his pitch count for the day soared to 191.
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Doubles by Scott Glass, Mock and Regel produced the winning run. Aaron Sallade doubled home a pair came and around on a single by Carothers.
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Though giving up 12 hits, winner Ben Sallade went the distance, striking out eight and walking one.
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State College (34-8) will begin play in the state tournament Tuesday at Boyertown.Â
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STATE COLLEGE — 18
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Nick Carothers 3b 4322, Trey Nicosia cf 6232, Scott Glass ss 4211, Austin Mock lf 4335, Saige Jenco lf 0000, Shane Regel c 6224, Will Sefter rf 5121, Aaron Sallade 1b 4222, Collin Muthler ph-1b 0000, Steve Mellott dh 4110, Sam Rodgers ph 1000, Matt Fry 2b 5230, Ben Sallade p 0000. TOTALS: 43 18 19 17.
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HOMER CITY — 3
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Evan Bencic ss-p-ss 4110, Tim Kinter cf 3020, Zack Davis pr-cf 0000, Scott Harsh p-ss-rf-3b 4000, Ty Holderbaum c 4122, Eric Cusimano 3b-1b 3010, Greg Lewis ph 1010, Cody Trabert rf-p-rf 3110, Josh Goldberg ph 1010, Matt Wilden 1b-p 4021, Ryan Mlakar lf 4000, Matt Stewart 2b 4010. TOTALS: 35 3 12 3.
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Score by Innings
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State College 300 042 27 – 18 19 0
Homer City    102 000 00 –  3 12 3
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Errors – Bencic, Holderbaum, Wilden, Mlakar. LOB – State College 11; Homer City 9. 2B – Nicosia, Glass, Mock, Regel, A. Sallade; Tabert. HR – Mock 2, Regel, Sefter; Holderbaum. SF – Mock. SB – Bencic 2. CS – Kinter (by B. Sallade).
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Pitching
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State College – B. Sallade 7 IP, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 8 K.
Homer City – Harsh 5 IP, 11 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, 7 K; Bencic 2 IP 3 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 1 K; Trabert 0 IP (faced 6 batters in 8th), 3 H, 6 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 0 K; Wilden 1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K.
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HB – Harsh 1 (Sefter). WP – Bencic 1.
W – B. Sallade. L – Harsh
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Umpires – Mike Campbell (plate), Dave Neal (first base), Joe Shick (third base).