Hazleton Area’s Brett Antolick pitched six innings and struck out 10 as the Cougars won the District 2/4 Class 6A subregional championship.
                                 Fred Adams | For Times Leader

Hazleton Area’s Brett Antolick pitched six innings and struck out 10 as the Cougars won the District 2/4 Class 6A subregional championship.

Fred Adams | For Times Leader

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<p>Hazleton Area’s Grant Russo gets thrown back to first base on a pickoff attempt in the first inning.</p>
                                 <p>Fred Adams | For Times Leader</p>

Hazleton Area’s Grant Russo gets thrown back to first base on a pickoff attempt in the first inning.

Fred Adams | For Times Leader

<p>Hazleton Area’s Grant Russo (6) is greeted by teammate Jamie Martoccio after crossing home plate with the Cougars’ first of five runs in the first inning.</p>
                                 <p>Fred Adams | For Times Leader</p>

Hazleton Area’s Grant Russo (6) is greeted by teammate Jamie Martoccio after crossing home plate with the Cougars’ first of five runs in the first inning.

Fred Adams | For Times Leader

<p>Hazleton Area’s Chris Florentino claps as he heads to home on an RBI single by Jamie Martoccio in the second inning.</p>
                                 <p>Fred Adams | For Times Leader</p>

Hazleton Area’s Chris Florentino claps as he heads to home on an RBI single by Jamie Martoccio in the second inning.

Fred Adams | For Times Leader

<p>Hazleton Area’s Ryan Schmidt scores in the fourth inning on a throwing error.</p>
                                 <p>Fred Adams | For Times Leader</p>

Hazleton Area’s Ryan Schmidt scores in the fourth inning on a throwing error.

Fred Adams | For Times Leader

<p>The Hazleton Area Cougars pose with their championship plaque after defeating Williamsport 8-2 Monday in the District 2/4 Class 6A subregional title game at PNC Field in Moosic.</p>
                                 <p>Fred Adams | For Times Leader</p>

The Hazleton Area Cougars pose with their championship plaque after defeating Williamsport 8-2 Monday in the District 2/4 Class 6A subregional title game at PNC Field in Moosic.

Fred Adams | For Times Leader

MOOSIC — Hazleton Area ace Brett Antolick admitted he didn’t have his best stuff Monday afternoon. His teammates made sure it wasn’t an issue.

Hazleton Area jumped on Williamsport quickly, giving Antolick more than enough wiggle room as the Cougars posted an 8-2 victory in the District 2/4 Class 6A baseball championship game at PNC Field.

Hazleton Area (18-4) moved to the PIAA Class 6A state tournament and will play District 1 fourth seed on Monday, June 5. The game will be at a District 2 site. District 4’s Williamsport ended its season at 13-7.

Antolick struck out 10 and surrendered three hits in six innings, a typical outing for the Texas A&M recruit. What was atypical was Antolick walked five and plunked a batter.

“I didn’t have my best stuff today,” Antolick said. “We scored some runs so I was comfortable continuing to throw even thought it wasn’t my best performance, but I battled out there.”

Williamsport capitalized just once on a free pass. Cole Shuler opened the game with a walk, moved to second on a double by Deacon Brown and scored on a groundout. That was the extend of the Millionaires’ offense — except for three walks — until Cayden Robertson legged out an infield single in the sixth inning.

Williamsport’s 1-0 lead disintegrated in the bottom of the first as Hazleton Area scored five times.

Grant Russo led off Hazleton Area’s first trip to the plate with a single. Antolick was then hit by a pitch and Chris Florentino followed with an RBI single and Jamie Martoccio knocked in a run with a sacrifice fly. Dom Marino then had an RBI double and scored on an error.

Richie Rossi brought in the fifth run with a single that should have ended the inning. Rossi launched a high pop in front of home plate. Williamsport pitcher Cayden Robertson and catcher Adam Aldenderfer looked up, looked at each other and then looked up again. By that time, the ball plopped on the grass about 15 feet up the first-base line.

“I’m really proud how these guys responded,” Hazleton Area coach Russ Canzler said. “What I really love about this group of guys is we’re battle tested. We lost four games this year. We’ve been down a lot of times in the conference and had to fight from behind. Nothing against all our previous teams, but I think this team has been battled tested more than any of our teams.”

Florentino brought in a run in the second with an RBI triple. Martoccio added an RBI single for a 7-1 advantage after two innings.

“I love being part of this, especially in the three hole,” Florentino said. “I love baseball. I love being out here.”

Florentino, a sophomore, worked his way up the ladder this season to a starting position. Marino, a freshman, has been a solid bat all season and was 3-for-4.

“Dom Marino standing in there as a freshman and delivering a clutch hit for us and Florentino is a super talented kid who’s a great story,” Canzler said. “He started out on JVs for us and played over half the season on JVs. We weren’t sure what we had there, but he got some opportunities and took advantage of them.”

A pair of throwing errors in the fourth inning led to Hazleton Area’s final run. Griffin Vollman’s two-out single in the sixth accounted for Williamsport’s final run.

District 2/4 Class 6A Championship

Hazleton Area 8, Williamsport 2

Williamsport`AB`R`H`BI

Shuler rf`1`1`0`0

Brown cf`4`0`1`0

Robertson p-ss`2`1`1`0

Aldenderfer c`3`0`0`1

Jackson 3b-1b`1`0`0`0

White pr`0`0`0`0

Vollman 1b-p`1`0`1`1

Vilello cr`0`0`0`0

Fausnaught p`1`0`0`0

Franzen ss-3b`3`0`0`0

Mazzante dh`3`0`0`0

Moore 2b`0`0`0`0

Britton lf`3`0`0`0

Totals`22`2`3`2

Hazleton Area`AB`R`H`BI

Russo ss`3`2`2`0

Antolick p`3`0`0`0

Schmidt cr`0`2`0`0

Florentino rf`4`2`2`2

Martoccio 3b`3`0`2`2

Marino dh`4`1`3`1

Halcisak lf`0`0`0`0

Ledger 1b`4`0`1`0

Dela Cruz c`4`0`1`0

Guzman cr`0`1`0`0

Rossi cf`3`0`1`1

Aponick 2b`3`0`0`0

Totals`31`8`12`6

Williamsport`100`001`0 – 2

Hazleton Area`520`100`x – 8

2B – Brown, Marino. 3B – Florentino.

Williamsport`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO

Robertson (L)`1.1`5`7`5`1`0

Fausnaught`2.2`4`1`0`0`1

Vollman`2`3`0`0`0`3

Hazleton Area`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO

Antolick (W)`6`3`2`2`5`10

Casterine`1`0`0`0`1`1