Hazleton Area relief pitcher Jack Esposito celebrates with his teammates after a 5-1 victory over Hempfield in the PIAA Class 6A first round on Monday. The Cougars play Pennsbury at 1 p.m. Thursday at Easton Area High School in the quarterfinals.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Pittston Area’s Nick Innamorati gets a fist bump from first base coach Jerry Ranieli after hitting a single in Monday’s PIAA first round win over Lower Dauphin.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
The odds are stacked against the three Wyoming Valley Conference baseball teams playing in the PIAA state quarterfinals Thursday.
It’s not that they’re bad teams or their opponents are unbeatable. It’s that history is working against the WVC.
In four seasons, including this year, the WVC has advanced 12 teams to the state playoffs. Only two emerged to play in the semifinals.
Hazleton Area lost in the semifinals in 2024. Dallas made it all the way to the Class 4A title game in 2023. Otherwise, it’s been difficult sledding for the WVC, which is 1-5 in quarterfinal games the past two season.
Tickets are available at piaa.org by clicking on the link on any playoffs bracket. Tickets purchased before Thursday were $9. Tickets purchased online or at the gate on game day are $10.
Here’s a look at the three games involving WVC teams listed by starting time.
Hazleton Area (19-5) vs. Pennsbury (22-2)
Class 6A Quarterfinals
1 p.m. Easton Area H.S.
Joe Pesci will be at the game.
Not the actor, but the highly successful 17-year Pennsbury coach who guided the Falcons to their first District 1 championship since 2017. Pesci is hoping for a similar outcome as in 2017 when Pennsbury captured its only state title.
Pennsbury has been building to this point with 10 seniors on the roster. Two of them have committed to Division I programs — pitcher Keller Bradley (Vanderbilt) and shortstop Carlton Crane (Rider).
Bradley struck out nine in a 6-1 first-round win vs. Ephrata, but won’t be eligible to throw. Junior Owen Hawkes, who pitched the final inning, appears the probable starter. Also available is another Division I prospect — but for football — Conner O’Brien, a 6-foot-5, 270-pounder.
Crane was 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI against Ephrata. Henry Garlits and Nolan Kolanko had RBI doubles. Player statistics weren’t readily available. The Falcons’ only losses were by one run to Neshaminy and Council Rock South.
District 2 champion Hazleton Area (19-5) had to straighten things out at the end of the regular season. The Cougars lost their last two regular-season games and then lost to Pittston Area in the WVC Division 1 championship game.
Since then, Hazleton Area has outscored three opponents 20-3, including a 5-1 win over Hempfield in the first round. Penn State commit Freddy Corrado struck out 11 in five innings, but like Pennsbury’s Bradley won’t have the required rest. Jack Esposito, who pitched two innings, looks like the probable starter with Nick Cunniffe also available.
Jeudi Hidalgo, new to the team this season, cracked his team-leading fifth homer. He, Dom Marino and Logan Hearity have been the top run producers.
The winner plays in the semifinals Monday against either District 1 fourth seed Neshaminy (18-7) or District 12 champion La Salle College (22-2).
Pittston Area (21-3) vs. Greencastle-Antrim (20-3)
Class 5A Quarterfinals
2 p.m., Earl Wenger Field, Fredricksburg
No matter what opinion people have about District 2 champion Pittston Area, the Patriots certainly can’t be labeled boring.
Pittston Area needed to rally from four runs down against Dallas in the district title game for a 7-4 win and then rally back from deficits of three and two runs to defeat Lower Dauphin 8-6 in the first round of states.
A reason Pittston Area is able to pull off such dramatics is because there are no dead spots in the batting order. Everyone has produced — some more than others, obviously — but hitters six through nine have scored eight runs and recorded seven RBI in the last three games.
The big bats, though, occupy the top slots led by UMass-Amherst recruit Beau Widdick, Pitt recruit Elijah Barr, Jacoby Harnen and Dom Salvo.
Lefty Joe Bradley pitched five innings vs. Lower Dauphin, so he can’t pitch Thursday. Alex Rosencrance threw the last two innings, but his pitch count was unavailable. Barr has been dealing with injury issues a good portion of the season, so his availability in unknown.
Whoever is on the mound will be facing a Greencastle-Antrim lineup with seven players hitting .350 or better. The order is led by Cam Rakazewski (.446, 33 RBI), Avery Horst (.416, 32 RBI) and Nolan Sullivan (.375, 28 RBI).
Greencastle-Antrim, the third seed out of District 3, defeated Upper Perkiomen 2-1 despite having just four hits. Lefty Ryan Linn threw 5.2 innings and is unable to throw Thursday. Lefty Jaxon Bostick is a likely candidate to start.
The winner plays in the semifinals Monday against either D1 runner-up West Chester Rustin (17-6) or D1 third seed Springfield-Delco (17-9).
MMI Prep (9-13) vs. Homer-Center (14-10)
Class A Quarterfinals
4 p.m., Bald Eagle Area H.S.
District 6 runner-up Homer-Center defeated an unexpected opponent in the first round, District 5 champion Northern Bedford.
Homer-Center was lined up to play defending state champion Southern Fulton, which defeated Northern Bedford in the District 5 championship game. That all changed Sunday night when it was discovered Southern Fulton was using a player all season who was playing high school baseball for a fifth year.
District 5 made Southern Fulton forfeit and Northern Bedford was notified about 11 p.m. Sunday it was playing Homer-Center the next day.
Homer-Center won 11-1 in five innings, but more importantly didn’t use its ace. So there’s a good chance District 2 champ MMI Prep faces senior Nash Budner, who has a 1.50 ERA and 65 strikeouts in 46.2 innings.
The Wildcats’ top hitters are Brayden Rado (.385), Eli Turk (.379), Dom Shimko (.333, 21 RBI) and Drew Fisher (.329, 22 RBI).
MMI Prep’s record isn’t impressive, but it’s the smallest baseball program in the WVC and District 2 and plays a WVC Division 2 schedule which includes six games vs. Class 4A opponents.
The Preppers have been postseason survivors. They battled back from a three-run deficit against Susquehanna to win 5-4 despite having just four hits.
Then in the opening round against Fairfield, MMI Prep saw a five-run lead turn into a one-run deficit in the sixth and was able to rebound for a 13-12 win.
MMI Prep used four pitchers and all are eligible to throw. As for offense, Gavin Serock (.341), Andrew Pedri (.333) and Caleb Skuba (.327) were the only regulars hitting above .300 as of a few games ago.
The winner plays in the semifinals Monday against either D1 champion Dock Mennonite (9-14) or D11 champion Nativity BVM (8-14).
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