Hollidaysburg’s Aiden Anderson (right), who iced the game for his team to ten-run Back Mountain after he hit the second grand slam of the inning, rounds third base as he’s congratulated by manager Charlie Burger.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Hollidaysburg’s Heath Hanlon celebrates as he heads for home after clubbing a grand slam against Back Mountain to help his team advance in the tournament.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Back Mountain’s Brian Vinsko celebrates after reaching first base against Hollidaysburg on Friday.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Hollidaysburg’s Aiden Pavlik called a timeout to umpire Zach Valeski against Back Mountain on Friday after reaching second base and collecting an RBI.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Back Mountain shortstop Ollie Bross pulls down a pop-up hit by Hollidaysburg’s Aiden Anderson on Friday at Jenkins Township Little League.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
JENKINS TWP. — After struggling to score runs over the last game and a half, Back Mountain showed some spark in the of the fourth inning of a state tournament elimination game against Hollidaysburg.
The three runs scored in the fourth by Back Mountain, the team’s first runs since the opening round of the tournament on Monday, cut Hollidaysburg’s five-run lead down to just two.
Unfortunately for Back Mountain, Hollidaysburg’s lineup had something even bigger planned for the bottom half.
Two grand slams were the highlights of a 10-run inning for Hollidaysburg as Back Mountain’s season came to a close with a 15-3 loss in four innings in the Little League Major Baseball state tournament at Jenkins Township Little League on Friday.
The second grand slam was also the game-ender. Aiden Anderson hit a towering fly ball to left-center that cleared the wall, bringing the final four runs of the game home to set the mercy rule into effect.
“We knew, top to bottom, Hollidaysburg has some big boys that could hit the baseball,” Back Mountain manager Brian Wielgosz said. “It was a tough one, we took one on the chin today against a very good team.”
Hollidaysburg sent 11 hitters to the plate in the fourth inning, with 10 of them reaching safely and coming around to score.
After a couple base hits and a Back Mountain error brought in two runs, Heath Hanlon stepped up and sent the game sideways.
Hanlon, who had driven in a run in his first at-bat on a sacrifice fly, drilled one over the fence in right field for a grand slam, extending Hollidaysburg’s lead to 11-3.
He also flipped the lineup and got Hollidaysburg back to the top of the order with just one out, and the hitters up top took it from there.
Walks for Zion Shubik and CJ Burger and a single from Blake Chamberlain loaded the bases again, and Anderson brought everyone home with one swing to keep Hollidaysburg alive in the elimination bracket.
“I’ve been with these guys for two years, we always find ourselves here,” Hollidaysburg manager Charlie Burger said. “It’s something we preach to them, it’s one game at a time and we’ve got to keep fighting and grinding.”
Back Mountain fell behind 5-0 after two innings, the same score that it lost by against Newtown-Edgmont on Thursday, but it put together a good series of at-bats to cut into that lead in the fourth.
Parker Page and Isaac Tribendis drew back-to-back walks to start the inning, and a base hit to right field for Brian Vinsko loaded the bases.
A ground ball to first base failed to cut down Page at the plate, scoring the first run after the throw home was dropped.
Hollidaysburg got the next two outs, but Josh Katyl was hit by a pitch to bring home Tribendis and Bruce Knowles drew a walk to score Vinsko, making it a 5-3 game with the bases still loaded.
Jordan Rollins was just a few feet away from putting Back Mountain ahead, launching a flyball just to the foul side of the left-field pole before Hollidaysburg reliever Trey Muth got the final out of the inning.
Hollidaysburg will play East Side in another elimination game 11 a.m. Saturday morning. It’s a rematch from the opening round of the tournament, a 2-1 win for East Side.
Blue Mountain 9, Newtown-Edgmont 2
In the second half of Friday evening’s state tournament doubleheader, Blue Mountain clinched a spot in the state championship with a win over Newtown-Edgmont.
Anthony Grimminger launched a solo home run for Blue Mountain in the win. Chase Goodman doubled and drove in a run, while also earning the win with four innings on the mound allowing just two runs.
Blue Mountain will take Saturday and Sunday off as the team waits for the rest of the elimination bracket to shake out. The Section 6 champion will be back on the diamond on Monday with the state title on the line.
Newtown-Edgmont will drop into the elimination bracket with the loss, playing on Sunday against the winner of Saturday’s Hollidaysburg-East Side game.
Major Baseball State Tournament
Elimination Game
Hollidaysburg 15, Back Mountain 3
(4 inn.)
Back Mountain`AB`R`H`BI
Wielgosz cf`2`0`0`0
Bross ss`2`0`0`0
Wycallis lf`2`0`0`0
Katyl 2b`1`0`0`1
Knowles 1b-p`1`0`0`1
Rollins rf`2`0`0`0
Salko 3b`1`0`0`0
Hanson p`1`0`0`0
Kovach eh`1`0`0`0
Page eh-p`0`1`0`0
Tribendis c`0`1`0`0
Vinsko eh`1`1`1`0
Totals`14`3`1`2
Hollidaysburg`AB`R`H`BI
Shubik lf`2`2`1`0
Chamberlain ss`2`1`1`0
Burger p`2`1`1`1
Anderson cf`2`1`1`4
Muth rf-p`2`0`0`0
Dodson 1b`2`1`1`0
Bridenbaugh 3b-p`2`2`1`0
Diehl c`1`1`0`0
Mikolajczyk 2b`2`1`0`1
Wertz eh`2`2`2`1
Pavlik eh`2`2`1`1
Hanlon eh`1`1`1`5
Totals`22`15`10`13
Back Mountain`000`3 — 3
Hollidaysburg`140`(10) — 15
E — BM 4, HOL 2. LOB — BM 3, HOL 3. 2B — Burger, Pavlik. HR — Anderson, Hanlon. SF — Hanlon.
Back Mountain`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Hanson (L)`2.0`4`5`3`1`2
Page`1.1`3`4`3`1`0
Knowles`0.0`3`6`5`2`0
Hollidaysburg`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Burger (W)`2.1`0`0`0`0`5
Bridenbaugh`1.1`1`3`3`3`3
Muth`0.1`0`0`0`0`0
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