No Indiana County baseball team has ever won a state championship. Only one has ever played in a state title game, and that was 19 years ago when Homer-Center lost to Christopher Dock.
This afternoon at Penn State University, Indiana High battles Holy Ghost Prep for the PIAA Quad-A championship.
It’s quite a contrast between the two teams. Indiana plays in the ultra-competitive WPIAL, which has 24 teams, six in Indiana’s Section Four. Holy Ghost Prep plays in District One, from the southeast corner of the state, where there are only four Quad-A schools.
The Little Indians are 16-10 and were the runners-up in the WPIAL after entering the postseason as the number nine district seed. They beat defending state champ Bellefonte in the first round of the PIAA tournament, then they topped two teams from District 3, East Pennsboro and Fleetwood. The Firebirds are 15-8 and downed Constitution, Dallas, and Danville on their journey to State College.
Indiana will start Greg Minnick, the junior Texas Tech recruit who is 3-0 with a 1.82 ERA, with 67 strikeouts and only 24 walks this season. Ryan Okopal and Sully Van Hoose will be ready out of the bullpen if called upon. Coach Dan Petroff is confident in Minnick and his entire pitching staff.
Holy Ghost is expected to start 6-foot-4 left-hander Justin Lucas, who is 5-1 with a 2.72 ERA, with 43 strikeouts and 14 walks in his senior season. Sophomores Matthew Riendeau and Ben McNab will back up Lucas in the bullpen.
Petroff says this is a special moment for his seniors, and his underclassmen will learn from the experience.
Holy Ghost puts a lot of runs on the board, and Indiana can put up some offense, too. But Petroff will take his runs however he can get them.
Petroff isn’t quite sure what to expect today, other than a really tough ballgame.
This afternoon’s game is on WDAD, FM 100.3 and AM 1450, streaming audio on wdadradio.com, and while we are not permitted to video stream the game, we plan to have both the pregame and postgame, presented by Force Turf Solutions, on the WDAD Facebook page.
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