Philipsburg-Osceola falls 6-1 to Punxsutawney in PIAA 3A baseball quarterfinals

A fourth-inning collapse coupled with a lack of offensive production caused Philipsburg-Osceola to fall flat 6-1 against Punxsutawney in the PIAA 3A baseball quarterfinals on Thursday.

Despite starting pitcher Gavin Emming’s eight strikeouts across seven innings, a handful of multi-base hits allowed across the third and fourth innings led to five earned runs and the loss.

Parker Lamb, TJ Wildman, Brandon Hahn and Alex Knepp registered the Mounties’ only hits across Thursday’s contest, dominated by Chucks’ ace Nevin Day, who gave up just one run in six-and-two-thirds innings.

“They’re a really good team, the Punxsutawney kids are great,” Philipsburg-Osceola head coach Doug Sankey said postgame. “I thought we’d get to them early, but we didn’t, and then I think we started pressing a little bit.”

After an error by shortstop Lamb gave Punxsutawney its first base runner, Punxsutawney second baseman Peyton Hetrick drove in the runner on a triple to left, the first of what would become a handful of balls pulled deep in that direction.

With a left-field wall just 320 feet deep, the Chucks took advantage of how shallow Philipsburg-Osceola was playing the outfield for a massive fourth inning.

Emming entered the fourth having given up just one hit while striking out six. He left it with four earned runs on five hits, two being consecutive doubles, to his name as the Mounties increased their deficit to 5-0.

“We did make a mistake on their No. 9 hitter,” Sankey said of Hetrick’s triple. “We pulled him up a little too much, and that probably would’ve been a double instead of getting to third ... but they just got a couple balls up and in.”

A Lamb double followed by a Denny Prestach sacrifice fly gave the Mounties their first and only run of the day as offensive struggles continued for three more innings.

After adding another run in the seventh inning provided by a misjudged pickoff with a man on third, Punxsutawney extended its margin back to five.

The Chucks pulled Day, who threw only 38 pitches, two outs into the seventh inning to save his arm for Monday’s semifinal against Riverside.