Bald Eagle Area baseball soars to PIAA Class 2A state title

STATE COLLEGE, Pennsylvania – Even with an early start time, Bald Eagle Area’s bats were wide awake in the PIAA Class 2A state championship game on Saturday at Penn State’s Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.

Behind the hot hitting and the pitching of Tyler Serb, BEA took home an 11-0 win over Mount Union in five innings to claim the state title.

The Eagles offense got started right out of the gate, scoring three times in the bottom of the first inning.

With one out, Serb hit an infield single and advanced to second on a throwing error. Tayten Yoder followed by hitting a high fly ball to left field that moved around in the wind and fell in as the left fielder couldn’t make the play.

After a sacrifice fly by Justin Bisel, Carson Nagle and Parker Quick followed with an RBI double and an RBI triple, respectively, to make it 3-0.

“Once we get momentum, we kind of feed off each other,” Quick said. “We just keep it going and see what happens. We scored runs all year.”

And then after putting up a run on an RBI single by Serb in the second inning, the Eagles opened the flood gates in the third inning with seven more runs.

Nagle, Quick and Kaden Burns started the rally with back-to-back-to-back one-out singles and Nagle scored on a throwing error after Burns’ base hit. Following a pitching change, Gavin Eckley struck out but reached first on a wild pitch on the third strike.

Cameron Watkins drove in two with an RBI single back up the middle and Serb delievered another RBI single after a walk to Kahale Burns.

Junior second baseman Tayten Yoder stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and came up with the big blow as he drilled a triple to the wall in left center that scored all three runners.

“He was throwing fastballs all at-bat and I was just trying to get a good pitch,” Yoder said. “I took a couple of close ones and I just wanted to swing at a good one that I could do damage with and put a good swing on it.”

The Eagles took full advantage when they got runners on base, going 7-for-12 with runners in scoring position in the game.

“That's exactly what you're looking for," BEA head coach James Gardner said. “The guys that stepped up and came through have been doing that recently. Just stepping to the plate with confidence against a good pitcher looking for that fastball.”

On the mound, Serb gave up a hit on the second pitch of the game and then held the Trojans to just one more hit for the rest of the game, walking one, hitting one batter and striking out three.

“I just went out there, I was feeling my stuff and my team was always there,” Serb said. “I have the best defense behind me.”

His defense was on display after the leadoff hit. After a fly ball to right for the first out, the next batter hit a ball to the left of second base. Shortstop Kahale Burns ranged to his left, made the play, tagged second base and threw on to first for the inning-ending double play.

The senior pitcher knew he was pitching for more than just himself, his teammates, and his coaches as well.

“All these little kids are looking up to you and just to do that, they're gonna look up to you and always say hi to you,” Serb said. “It's just gonna be awesome.”

It was the second outstanding performance this week on the mound for Serb, as he tossed eight innings of three-hit baseball with one walk and 14 strikeouts in the semifinals when the Eagles defeated Sharpsville 1-0 in 10 innings on Monday.

Gardner said what Serb did over the past week was ‘amazing’ and said that one of the reasons Serb was able to bounce back was because of how the coaches have monitored their pitcher over the past few weeks.

“He’s a guy that recovers very well and doesn't really get a sore arm, maybe his body will get a little bit stiff,” Gardner said. “In the last few weeks, we completely shut him down. He's not allowed to touch a ball the days after the game. It's kind of a joke, but at the same time, we're very serious about it.”

The Eagles were very serious about playing the championship game, too. Starting the game at 10:30 am didn’t bother BEA, especially on offense. Six of the nine starters collected hits, seven drove in runs and nine different players crossed the plate with runs.

“It didn't really matter how early the game was,” Yoder said. “We just woke up ready to win.”