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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Though giving up 12 hits, winner Ben Sallade went the distance, striking out eight and walking one.
State College (34-8) will begin play in the state tournament Tuesday at Boyertown.
STATE COLLEGE — 18
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.
HOMER CITY — 3
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.
Score by Innings
State College 300 042 27 – 18 19 0
Homer City 102 000 00 – 3 12 3
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).
Pitching
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.
HB – Harsh 1 (Sefter). WP – Bencic 1.
W – B. Sallade. L – Harsh
Umpires – Mike Campbell (plate), Dave Neal (first base), Joe Shick (third base).
