Oley Valley falls to Tyrone in PIAA baseball championship game
Jun. 17—STATE COLLEGE — Oley Valley didn't have to look far to prepare for Tyrone left-hander Aiden Coleman before Thursday's PIAA Class 3A baseball title game.
Lynx coach Nate Reed, a lefty, has pitched for 10 professional seasons, so he threw batting practice Wednesday.
"I threw a good BP to them and we hit pretty well," Reed said. "I had confidence going into this game, but it's a little higher stage when you're playing for a state championship."
Coleman was dominant, throwing a three-hit shutout and striking out nine in a 5-0 victory over Oley Valley at Penn State's Medlar Field.
A junior who's committed to the Nittany Lions, Coleman allowed three singles, two to Garet Blankenbiller and one to Luke Macdonald, and one walk. The Lynx (21-6) threatened only once, putting runners on second and third in the second inning.
"He did a phenomenal job," Reed said. "He threw two pitches for strikes all game. He did a heck of a job."
Oley Valley, seeking its first state title since 1989 and its fourth overall, needed to play almost flawlessly with the way Coleman pitched and didn't. The Lynx hurt themselves by committing three errors and misplaying a flyball.
"We just didn't have the bats today," senior catcher Evan Solley said. "And the other team capitalized on our mistakes. That's how they got the win."
Tyrone (22-4), the District 6 runner-up, won the title in its first appearance in a final, scoring one run in the first inning on Ross Gampe's double off starter Eddie Standhardt. The Golden Eagles added two unearned runs in the third and two earned runs in the fourth on RBI singles by Bryce Hunter and Brandon Lucas.
"The third inning killed us," Blankenbiller said.
Tyrone's 5-0 lead after 3.5 innings seemed like 10-0.
"Once we gave up a couple runs, we got anxious at the plate," senior center fielder Matt Knowles said. "You're trying to get it all back in one swing. We just didn't do the little things."
Doing the little things helped Oley win its second straight District 3 championship and go 10-2 in games decided by two runs or less. The Lynx made some nice plays on defense Thursday, but not enough.
One of their few bright spots was freshman reliever Sean Hoffman, who allowed two hits and one walk in 2.2 shutout innings.
"We're a better team than we showed today," Reed said. "It's tough to beat a team with only three hits.
"Nobody expected us to get to this point. I can't be prouder of this team. Making it to the state championship game with a great group of guys, I couldn't be happier."
Five seniors — Blankenbiller, Knowles, Solley, Standhardt and Lucas Myford — played their final game in a royal blue-and-white Oley uniform. They seemed like the ones who took the loss the hardest.
"It's not the loss that's getting me worked up," Solley said. "It's just knowing that it's over. The rest of the team has a lot of time ahead, but the seniors don't. I've been with them my whole life. That's going to be the hardest part, leaving them."
The Lynx struggled to reflect on their accomplishments, like becoming the first Berks League team to reach a state final since Central Catholic in 2011. It was all about spending their final hours together as a team.
"Being the second-best team in the state is huge," Blankenbiller said. "It's good to say it, but we wanted that championship. This team is amazing. We faced so much adversity this year. We had a huge season. It just didn't end the way we wanted it to end."
