Hazleton Impresses, Joined by DuBois, Mont Alto and Shenango in Baseball Championship

DuBois, Pa. - Whenver seven baseball games are on tap, you expect a few upsets. Friday saw just two, but they came from teams in similar positions. Penn State Hazleton and Penn State Shenango each entered the 2026 PSUAC Baseball Championship Tournament as the 3-seed coming from their respective divisions, and both pulled off upsets of the 2-seed from the opposing division.

Shenango opened with a solid win over Penn State York, while Hazleton had to beat Penn State New Kensington in the morning before facing Penn State Greater Allegheny in the evening. Top seeds Penn State DuBois and Penn State Mont Alto held serve, toppling Penn State Scranton and Penn State Beaver, respectively.

Scranton and Beaver had each advanced from earlier wins on Friday before being bounced from the tournament in the single-elimination portion of the event. Now with four teams remaining, a double-elimination bracket begins over the weekend as we will crown a champion on Sunday. But first, DuBois and Shenango will square off at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, just before Hazleton and Mont Alto play at 1:30 p.m. at Stern Field in DuBois.

East #3 PSU Hazleton - 7, West #6 PSU New Kensington - 2

Hazleton opened the postseason with a 7-2 win over New Kensington at Showers Field in DuBois. Eli Tyrrell picked up the win in relief, entering in the third inning and throwing 4.2 innings of one-run ball while striking out eight to pick up the win.

Hazleton's Aiden Rodriguez led the way with two hits and three RBIs, while Trent Strohecker also added multiple hits with two. The top of New Kensington's order smacked their only four hits, as both Sean Walker and Karter Weitzel went 2-for-3.

Rodriguez crushed a bases-clearing double to right-center to give Hazleton a 3-1 lead in the third. Dylan Colantone added an RBI single, followed by a Brandon Unger RBI single to make it 5-1 before Maximus Cuevas scored on an error while a teammate stole second. 

The win advanced Hazleton to the quarterfinals against West #2 seed Penn State Greater Allegheny while sending New Kensington home.

West #4 PSU Beaver - 5, East #5 PSU Schuylkill - 2

Schuylkill opened and closed the scoring, but Beaver scored all five of their runs between the fourth and fifth innings to walk away with an important win.

Yostin Guerrero hit a solo homer to right-center, a high fly ball that carried well into the adjacent park's playground. But two innings later, Beaver answered with RBI singles from Andres Molinar and Daniel Goff to go ahead 2-1.

Rome Requena came home on a bases loaded balk in the fifth, and Philip Betz added a run-scoring single to make it 4-1. Molinar closed out Beaver's offense with a ground ball that scored Christopher Cann on a fielder's choice to give Beaver a comfortable 5-1 lead.

Schuylkill's offense couldn't quite get going against Beaver starting pitcher Justin Perera, who struck out seven and gave up just four hits in six-plus innings. Nathan Doutt came in to close it out and earn the save, but not before Schuylkill brought up the tying run. With two runners on and nobody out, Doutt go a strikeout and two fly outs to end the game and advance to the evening's quarterfinals against East #1 seed Penn State Mont Alto.

East #4 PSU Scranton - 12, West #5 PSU Fayette - 8

Scranton started a trend of bats getting going, scoring 12 runs, including at least one in each of the first five innings, and held on for a 12-8 win over Fayette in first round action on Friday. 

The top three batters of Scranton's order collected eight of the team's 14 hits, with Alex Brinkman leading the way with four hits, an RBI and two runs scored. Keegan Little and Paulie Maccarrone each added two hits for Scranton in the top two spots of the order, while Joel Brennan kept the bottom of the order together with three hits and three RBIs.

Braden Savage pitched four innings and struck out seven before exiting in favor of his bullpen. Fayette scored seven runs in the final two innings, but it wasn't enough to catch-up to the early deficit. AJ Segarra had two hits and two RBIs to lead Fayette in their season-ending loss. 

Scranton's win propelled them to the closing game of Friday, a quarterfinal game with West #1 seed Penn State DuBois.

West #3 PSU Shenango - 6, East #2 PSU York - 1

Shenango received an outstanding performance on the mound from Nate Evans, who pitched a complete game in the victory. Evans struck out seven and gave up just four hits and only yielded one run.

Shenango outhit York 13-4, with John Perry and Dante Micaletti each collecting three hits from the bottom of the order. Perry drove in two and was joined by Troy Bachman with two RBIs. 

Shenango's big inning came in the third as Bachman hit a two-run homer and Perry added an RBI single. Leading 4-0, Dominic Fornataro added a sacrifice fly to make it 5-0. York would score their only run in the bottom half of the inning as Alex Eisenberger scored on a Ben Blydenburgh sac fly to center.

Perry's RBI single in the sixth sealed it as Shenango punched their ticket to the double-elimination round and sent York home early.

East #1 PSU Mont Alto - 21, West #4 PSU Beaver - 2

The hits kept coming in the quarterfinals, as Mont Alto continued Scranton's hitting success at Showers Field with 17 hits. Mont Alto scored a bulk of their runs in the second and third innings, with eight in the second before adding nine in the third. 

Five Mont Alto players finished with two hits, led by James Sibert who also knocked in five and had a homer. Wyatt Kissel and Carter Fogal each added two RBIs on two hits, while Garrett Worth drove in three.

Beaver's Mason Hsu also homered, but it wasn't nearly enough as Mont Alto capitalized on their bye into the quarterfinals. Fogal picked up the win in four innings pitched, allowing no runs and striking out five.

East #3 PSU Hazleton - 17, West #2 PSU Greater Allegheny - 3

Hazleton continued the hot streak of hitting in the evening, finishing an incredible 21-for-39 at the plate. Four players collected three hits, including Aiden Rodriguez, Maximus Cuevas, Brandon Unger and Mike Fidler. 

Unger led the team with four RBIs, while Cuevas, Fidler and Rodriguez each drove in two in support of starting pitcher Jordan Castrine. Castrine picked up the win in four innings of work, allowing just one run on four hits. Striking out just two, Castrine was supported by a stellar defense that didn't commit an error in the wet conditions. 

Leading 7-1, Hazleton broke it open with a 10-run fifth inning. Seven players drove in a run during the rally, giving Hazleton a commanding lead and a clear path to Saturday. Of note, an incredible seven Hazleton players scored two runs, but no players scored more than twice. Every starter scored at least once, and a total of 10 players scored. 

West #1 PSU DuBois - 9, East #4 PSU Scranton - 3

DuBois had to wait the whole day to play, but didn't waste any time getting in on the action. In the bottom of the second, the West's top seed scored four runs to stake an early advantage over Scranton, who didn't have the advantage of a bye into the quarterfinals.

Braylen Carter got the scoring started with an RBI single, and following a Hayden Vaughn sac fly to center, DuBois would score two more times. The inning would be the first of five straight in which DuBois would score, as they added solo runs in the third and fourth before putting up a two-spot in the fifth on Cole Bloom's two-run double. Bloom finished with three RBIs while Vaughn had two--interestingly both being recorded on outs.

Maclain Welshans manned the mound for DuBois, pitching a complete game and striking out seven.

Scranton showed some life in the sixth, but it wasn't enough. After loading the bases, Isaiah Alicea was hit by a pitch before Joel Brennan smacked an RBI single. Logan Moss' groundout pushed across Scranton's final run in what turned out to be their final game of the season.