South Fayette meets Mount Union in PIAA baseball playoffs
The South Fayette Lions (15-7) will take on the Mount Union Trojans (19-5) in a PIAA Class AA first-round playoff game today at Peoples Natural Gas Field in Altoona at 5 p.m.
The Lions are in the PIAA playoffs for the first time since 2009, when they finished as the runner-up. They have not played since suffering a 14-11 loss to eventual champion Ellwood City in the WPIAL semifinals on May 21. The Lions fell into a 9-0 hole in that game, before rallying to cut their deficit to 9-8 in the fifth. Then, trailing 14-9, the Lions scored twice in the seventh and had the tying run at the plate, but could not do any more damage. Four South Fayette pitchers walked 11 and hit three batters.
Mount Union will be playing their second game in a row at Peoples Natural Gas Field. The Trojans defeated Philipsburg-Osceola, 3-2, in the District 6 championship May 25. This was not supposed to be a particularly strong season for a young Trojans team which has 11 underclassmen among its 15 varsity players. In fact, the Trojans started five freshmen in the District 6 title game. Darrian Stapleton allowed one run and eight hits to get the win in that game. The Trojans last participated in the PIAA playoffs two seasons ago when they advanced to the semifinals after beating WPIAL schools Bishop Canevin and Burrell.
The South Fayette-Mount Union winner will play the Riverside-Brookville winner in Thursday’s quarterfinals.
The Lions are in the PIAA playoffs for the first time since 2009, when they finished as the runner-up. They have not played since suffering a 14-11 loss to eventual champion Ellwood City in the WPIAL semifinals on May 21. The Lions fell into a 9-0 hole in that game, before rallying to cut their deficit to 9-8 in the fifth. Then, trailing 14-9, the Lions scored twice in the seventh and had the tying run at the plate, but could not do any more damage. Four South Fayette pitchers walked 11 and hit three batters.
Mount Union will be playing their second game in a row at Peoples Natural Gas Field. The Trojans defeated Philipsburg-Osceola, 3-2, in the District 6 championship May 25. This was not supposed to be a particularly strong season for a young Trojans team which has 11 underclassmen among its 15 varsity players. In fact, the Trojans started five freshmen in the District 6 title game. Darrian Stapleton allowed one run and eight hits to get the win in that game. The Trojans last participated in the PIAA playoffs two seasons ago when they advanced to the semifinals after beating WPIAL schools Bishop Canevin and Burrell.
The South Fayette-Mount Union winner will play the Riverside-Brookville winner in Thursday’s quarterfinals.
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