Eden Christian falls short to Southern Fulton in PIAA Class A baseball final
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Thursday, June 12, 2025 | 2:27 PM
Eden Christian Academy’s Brady Hull carries the state runner-up trophy from the field after the PIAA Class A championship game against Southern Fulton on Thursday, June 12, 2025, at Penn State.
Eden Christian Academy catcher Josh Tilden tosses a bat, as Southern Fulton clears the bases on a squeeze bunt during the fourth inning of the PIAA Class A state championship game on Thursday, June 12, 2025, at Penn State.
Eden Christian Academy pitcher Noah Emswiler delivers against Southern Fulton during the fourth inning of the PIAA Class A state championship game on Thursday, June 12, 2025, at Penn State.
Eden Christian Academy’s Noah Emswiler celebrates his 2-run triple against Southern Fulton during the first inning of the PIAA Class A state championship game on Thursday, June 12, 2025, at Penn State.
Eden Christian Academy’s Brett Feldman tags out Southern Fulton’s Joel Fitz at second base during the PIAA Class A state championship game on Thursday, June 12, 2025, at Penn State.
STATE COLLEGE – For the third time since 2021, Eden Christian Academy fell short of hoisting its first PIAA baseball championship trophy after falling to Southern Fulton, 14-3, on Thursday at Penn State’s Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.
The Warriors (19-6) had one goal in mind — finishing the job after losing to Halifax in 2021 and to Faith Christian Academy last spring.
Despite the loss, Eden coach Mark Feldman was proud with how his team battled to again finish as the state runner-up.
“They showed up every day for months to practice and grind all year long,” Feldman said. “We lost four starters from last year, and we ended up in the state finals again. (Southern Fulton) had a great day and all the credit is to them, but I am so thankful for my group of young men.”
Eden Christian was set to rally behind Lipscomb commit Noah Emswiler, who entered the game with a 3-0 record and 1.49 ERA while batting .478 with 32 hits and 32 RBIs.
The game started off strong for Emswiler and the Warriors as they jumped out to an early 3-1 lead with Emswiler striking out five batters and knocking in two of the three runs with a first-inning triple.
But things unraveled quickly in the fourth inning.
After the first base runner for Southern Fulton reached on an error and the next two hitters walked, the Warriors were in trouble with the bases loaded and one out.
Southern Fulton decided to do something high risk and an even higher reward. Senior Joel Fitz put down a suicide squeeze. It was grounded right back to the mound where Emswiler went to make a play on the ball, throwing it to first, but the throw got away and allowed the bases to clear.
By the end of the inning the two-run lead transformed into a 5-3 deficit.
“That’s been our M.O. all year. We really try to press defenses and I thought today we did that,” Southern Fulton coach Kent Hendershot said. “Sometimes we were able to do it with hits and gap shots; today we did it with small ball.”
Southern Fulton never looked back after that fourth-inning explosion, tallying eight more runs to win its first PIAA championship.
Feldman gave a final shout out to the only senior to start this championship game.
“We put together some good at-bats,” he said. “Jacob Janicki, our senior, going 4 for 4, how’s that for his last game?”
The Warriors will return nearly their entire lineup, including Emswiler and Brady Hull, as they can attempt another trip to State College and a shot at redemption next season.
Tags: Eden Christian
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