UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A disastrous inning or two have doomed Eden Christian in each of the three times it has played for a PIAA title.
In 2021, the Warriors gave up eight runs across the first and second innings of a 9-1 loss.
A year ago, they surrendered four in the fifth of a 4-1 defeat.
The Warriors hoped the third time would be a charm Thursday at Penn State University. Instead, it was two more nightmarish innings — this time the fourth and the seventh — that plagued them once again.
District 5 champion Southern Fulton capitalized on three Eden Christian errors in a five-run fourth inning and scored seven more in the seventh to power past the Warriors, 14-3, in the PIAA Class 1A baseball championship at Penn State’s Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.
“All the credit goes to Southern Fulton,” Eden Christian coach Mark Feldman said. “We didn’t have our best, but they put all kind of pressure on us and were patient. They put the ball in play. And we didn’t play our best game. It’s baseball.”
It was the first title for Southern Fulton (25-1), which lost in the final to Vincentian in its only previous appearance in 2018. Meanwhile, it was more heartbreak for Eden Christian (19-5), a small private school in Ohio Township that fell to 0-4 in WPIAL and PIAA championships. The Warriors were the WPIAL runners-up in 2022 and 2024.
Feldman has been a coach on the staff for all of those games. He took over as head coach a season ago after previously serving as an assistant.
“They’re going to call me Marv Levy,” Feldman quipped, making reference to former Buffalo Bills football coach who lost four consecutive Super Bowls in the 1990s.
Eden Christian, the WPIAL’s third-place team, thought it might have better fortune this time, especially after scoring three runs in the bottom of the first to take a 3-1 lead. And the Warriors did it against Southern Fulton right-hander Owen Oakman, who entered the game with a 10-0 record and had given up only one earned run in 50⅓ innings the entire season. But the Warriors were lumberjacks in the opening frame, tagging Oakman for three earned runs and four hits. Noah Emswiler, who gave up a run-scoring triple to Jett Burger in the top of the inning, smacked a two-run double, and Josh Tilden followed with a run-scoring single.
The score remained that way until the fourth, when Medlar Field turned into a house of horrors for Eden Christian. Southern Fulton sent 11 batters to the plate and racked up five runs on only one hit. The Indians took advantage of three Eden Christian errors and four walks. Eden Christian used three pitchers in the inning. With the bases loaded and one out, Joel Fitz put down a squeeze bunt. Emswiler picked it up but threw wide of first base, allowing all three runners to score.
“The overthrow that let in three runs … just a complete momentum shift,” said Brady Hull, a junior and one of Eden Christian’s top hitters.
Colt Mann then laid down a bunt that resulted in an error by first baseman Hull, allowing another run to score. After loading the bases again, Austin Mann, who led off the inning by reaching on an error, collected Southern Fulton’s first hit of the frame, a run-scoring single that increased the lead to 6-3.
Southern Fulton then tacked on a seventh run in the fifth before erupting for seven more in the seventh to put the game out of reach. The Indians had only three hits in the frame. Instead, it was more self-inflicted wounds that did in Eden Christian, with Southern Fulton drawing four walks and scoring four runs on wild pitches.
“Look, no one is trying to walk kids. No one is trying to make errors,” Mark Feldman said. “It’s unfortunate. It happens. They put five up and they put seven up. And that’s what happens. It doesn’t take away from the fact that we’ve got here back-to-back years.”
Oakman shrugged off the rough start to improve to 11-0. He gave up 3 runs, 10 hits and 1 walk to go along with 9 strikeouts. Oakman threw 107 pitches before exiting the game to a loud ovation from the Southern Fulton crowd with two outs in the fifth. Fitz pitched 1⅓ scoreless innings to close out the win.
The three runs tied for the second-fewest scored by Eden Christian all season. The Warriors were averaging 10 runs per game after producing 16 in the quarterfinals and 12 in the semifinals. Jacob Janicki had four of Eden Christian’s 10 hits while Levi DeFazio added two.
“After the first inning, our hitting came out a little flat,” Hull said.
Emswiler, a junior left-hander and Lipscomb recruit, got the start and lasted 3⅓ innings after giving up 5 runs (1 earned), 3 hits and 5 walks. Hull, Janicki, Christian Watkins and Brett Feldman followed. In all, Eden Christian pitchers gave up 11 hits, walked 11 and tossed 5 wild pitches.
Eden Christian might not have ended its championship struggles Thursday, but with all but one starter set to return next season, the Warriors are hopeful that first title won’t be far, far away.
“I see us back here next year, but leaving with the gold in both the WPIAL and the state,” Hull said. “I don’t think there’s going to be a team better than us in 1A in the whole state.”
Brad is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at beverett@unionprogress.com.