Here's a look at Centre County's high school baseball teams heading into 2018

The county’s baseball teams are motivated by last year heading into the 2018 season.

State College reached the state semifinals in 2017 — and the Little Lions are looking to make another deep postseason run. Philipsburg-Osceola and St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy are going into the year looking to reach the District 6 championship game after falling in the semifinals a year ago. Bellefonte is hoping to compete for a district title, while Bald Eagle Area and Penns Valley are looking to improve after losing campaigns.

Here’s a look at each team this year:

Bald Eagle Area

To get his best athletes on the field and put together the best hitting lineup, BEA coach Jim Gardner made some changes going into this year.

He moved Trent Donley and Garret Barnhart from the infield to the outfield, and they will also pitch for the Eagles. With that, Gardner is looking to set his infield for good and rotate his outfielders depending on who’s pitching.

“I really like the looks of our infield defense,” Gardner said.

That group includes junior Kael Gardner at third base, sophomore Jaden Jones at shortstop, senior Grant King at second base and senior Jordan Jones at first base. On the mound, Gardner will turn to Barnhart, Donley, Hunter Brooks, Nick Maynard, Drew Bucha and Matt Reese.

“I don’t know that we have anybody that’s going to be any power pitchers, but I believe they all have potential to all contribute equally,” Gardner said. “I believe any of them can be consistent for us.”

And he’s taking the same approach with his lineup this season.

“I also think our lineup throughout 1-9 is going to be pretty strong and could be interchangeable in the batting order,” Gardner said.

Bellefonte

First-year Red Raiders coach Jon Clark said his veterans are hungry after a disappointing end to last season.

After winning the state championship in 2016, Bellefonte’s season ended in the District 6 semifinals in 2017.

“They’ve talked about: We want to be competitive in that. We don’t want to see our season end like last year in the semifinals,” Clark said. “We want it to be kind of an expectation that we’re vying for those championships every year and to get back to the state playoffs and see where it can go from there.”

Pitcher Adam Armstrong, shortstop Dylan Deitrich, center fielder Cade Fortney and catcher Colton Burd were all contributors on the team that won the state title in 2016. Armstrong and Ashton Wetzler were the team’s top pitchers last year, and the Red Raiders will rely on them again this season. Armstrong finished 5-4 with a 1.97 ERA, while Wetzler went 3-3 with a 3.53 ERA. C.J. Funk led the team with a .365 batting average last year.

They’ll lead a Red Raiders team looking to compete for the Mountain League and District 6 titles along with a state tournament berth.

“As long as we’re competing, all those other things are going to fall into place the way they should,” Clark said.

Penns Valley

With veterans in the infield and outfield, Penns Valley coach Shawn Meyer expects his team to be solid defensively.

That will be crucial this season after losing five pitchers to graduation.

“We’ll take any strikeout we can get, but our goal is to let our infield back up our pitcher and be the workhorse,” said Meyer, who is in his first year as the Rams’ head coach.

The Rams have made strides in two years — Penns Valley averaged 4.4 errors per game in 2016 during a 4-14 season. The Rams improved defensively last year and finished with a 6-12 record. Shortstop Nate Gillespie, third baseman Thomas Kauffman, outfielder/second baseman Jared Kines, outfielder Jakob Daniels, second baseman Calvin Russell, outfielder Cameron Shaffer and catcher Logan Snyder all return for Penns Valley.

They’ll need to be sharp defensively with a young pitching staff as they aim to finish .500 or better this season.

“They’re just going to have to be positive and go out there with the will to win,” Meyer said. “We’re going to try and throw strikes, get ahead of the batters, reduce our walks or keep our walks to a minimum.”

Philipsburg-Osceola

With eight returning starters on his roster this year, Philipsburg-Osceola coach Doug Sankey said his players already know the program’s expectations.

The veteran Mounties haven’t had to spend much time reviewing bunt coverages and situations during the preseason. And they’re ready to go after finishing last year with a loss in the District 6 semifinals.

“I could probably sit in the dugout and practice would run just fine,” Sankey said with a laugh. “This is one of those years where the kids show up on time, they get the field ready or the gym, wherever we’re at, and they get right to work.”

Josh Earnest and Gage Coudriet are part of that veteran group after helping P-O record winning seasons in 2016 and 2017. They’ll be the Mounties’ top two pitchers as seniors this year after successful sophomore and junior campaigns. Earnest was also one of the team’s top hitters last year, finishing with a .304 batting average and 12 RBIs. He’ll be in the middle of the lineup with sophomore Keegan Soltis, who hit .345 with a team-high 16 RBIs last season.

Catcher Trey Shaw, left fielder Brandon Kephart, center fielder Micah Martin, right fielder Hunter Ammerman and infielder Landon McDonald round out P-O’s returning starters. Sankey said Ryan Kephart will take over at shortstop after losing four-year starter Logan Williamson.

The Mounties are hoping to take the next step after back-to-back trips to the district semifinals.

“We’re hoping to get over that hump,” Sankey said. “We want to compete and make it to the district finals.”

State College

In the past two seasons, the Little Lions relied on their pitching to win games while they struggled at the plate. But this year, with an unproven pitching staff and an experienced lineup, coach Troy Allen expects the Little Lions to win games with their bats.

“It’s my hope that offensively, we’re going to be good enough to overcome giving up some runs,” Allen said. “We can’t be as good as we have been from a pitching standpoint. At a certain point the offense has to carry the weight.”

State College reached the PIAA Class 6A semifinals last season, thanks to dominant outings on the mound by Mason Mellott and Gavin Schaefer-Hood. Mellott, the team’s ace who is now pitching for Penn State, graduated along with Schaefer-Hood and Christian Friberg. The trio accounted for 11 of the team’s 13 wins, and all three finished with an ERA under 2.40. David Shoemaker is the lone State College pitcher with significant experience at the varsity level. He was third on the team in innings pitched last year, and he’ll lead the way on the mound this season.

“Pitching’s the unknown. I have complete confidence in David,” Allen said. “I don’t have any doubts that he’ll be the anchor for us. Ryan Kraycik will be the No. 2 to start. He didn’t pitch much for us last year. But he’s capable of being a pretty good pitcher.”

The rest of the Little Lions’ pitching staff remains uncertain.

That’s why State College will depend on its offense this year. The Little Lions return Matt Tomczuk (.377; 13 RBIs), Kevin Karstetter (.333), Tyson Cooper (.262; team-high five doubles), Tyler Simpson (.300) and Kraycik (.325). Simpson, Jack Hurley and Ryan Gess will make up the outfield. Tomczuk and Karstette will form the middle infield with Danny Adams at third base and Brendan Franks at first.

They’ll be looking to make another deep postseason run after falling just short of the state championship game in 2017.

“Making a run like that, especially with so many young guys, it gave ’em a taste,” Allen said. “We were right there, and I still feel like we didn’t get the job done. I definitely feel like we were the best team remaining at the end. We just didn’t get the job done, so for those guys that are coming back, it’s sort of like unfinished business.”

St. Joseph’s

Like Philipsburg-Osceola, St. Joseph’s fell just short of advancing to the District 6 championship game the past two seasons.

After losing in the semifinals in 2016 and 2017, the Wolves are aiming to capture the district title and reach the state playoffs this year. It’s been their goal since their season-ending loss Homer-Center last year, and they have plenty of talent returning to contend for the championship in 2018.

“Right now, this team talent-wise is really tops,” SJCA coach Greg Herman said. “They’ve all come up together since they were younger in this program, and they’ve been together for a while, so they’ve matured together as a team.”

The Wolves will be led by ace Bryce Herman and their pitching staff. In addition to Herman, Camden Burris, Ben Macafee and Cole Bernier will take the mound for St. Joseph’s. Greg Herman has been impressed with Burris, who is being receiving interest from Division-I programs.

“Cam Burris is looking really, really good,” the coach said. “He was really good last year, but he’s matured also. I can’t say anything bad about him. He’s just a great pitcher.”

They’ll be supported by a veteran group defensively, with Dylan Broderick at catcher, Jack Mangene at shortstop and Matt Steyers at second base. The Wolves will have Bernier, Burris, Zane Thornburg and Cade Nungesser in the outfield.

This story was originally published March 27, 2018 at 9:07 PM with the headline "Here's a look at Centre County's high school baseball teams heading into 2018."