Indiana works out of 1 last jam, beats Montoursville for PIAA title

By: Michael Love
Friday, June 13, 2025 | 8:28 PM

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UNIVERSITY PARK — Indiana built some breathing room early in Friday’s PIAA Class 4A baseball championship game against District 4 titlist Montoursville at Penn State’s Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.

But when a four-run lead was whittled down to one, and the Warriors loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the seventh, the Indians faithful were holding their collective breaths.

When the adversity was its thickest, the WPIAL champion rose to the occasion like it had several other times in its postseason run.

Indiana worked out of the seemingly insurmountable jam to clinch the program’s first state championship, and everyone was able to exhale in unison.

The Indians held off Montoursville, 5-4, in the dramatic final to claim gold one year after coming up just short in the championship contest.

“I can’t be more proud of these guys,” said Indiana coach Dan Petroff, whose team capped a 7-0 run in the WPIAL and PIAA tournaments and concluded its season at 26-1 overall.

“That game right there showed just how much resilience they have. They never give up. I swear to God, our last nine games were all like that, mostly draining for parents and the coaches. But the kids, it drives them, and they don’t want to give up.

“We probably had no business winning that game, to be honest, but they kept going. It was a tough situation. A lot of kids would melt in that situation, but they never did.”

Indiana’s players knew what it was like to fight through harrowing situations. Four of its six postseason games coming into Friday’s title contest went to extra innings including the two-day, 17-inning semifinal marathon earlier this week against East Pennsboro.

“This is like a storybook,” Petroff said. “Last year, we got second, and this year, first. I mean, it’s just unbelievable, unbelievable for our town.”

Indiana played 70 innings over its seven postseason games.

“We’re just happy to get the ‘W’ at the end of the day (today), because the result could’ve been very different,” Petroff said.

Montoursville came into the title game winners of seven straight. The Warriors were going after the third state title in program history in this, their sixth championship-game appearance.

“My hat’s off to Montoursville,” Petroff said. “They are a scrappy group. You can tell that they are kind of the same way. They don’t give up. They are very well-coached.”

Montoursville got on the board with a run in the top of the third and then loaded the bases in each of the final four innings.

The Warriors got just one run in the fourth and fifth innings combined against Indians senior relievers Ryan Okapal and Greg Minnick.

A two-run single from sophomore catcher Noah Kirby with the bases jammed in the sixth brought Montoursville to within one. When Indiana loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth and failed to score, it set up the seventh-inning drama.

Warriors right fielder-turned-pitcher Jimmy Mussina, the nephew of Hall of Fame pitcher Mike Mussina, led off the seventh with a single. A pick-off attempt from Minnick went down the right field line, and Mussina motored all the way to third.

Minnick then hit Zach Neill to put runners on first and third. Petroff then made a pitching change from Minnick to senior Mark Collinger.

Warriors designated hitter Jonah Heddings was the first to face Collinger, and he reached on an infield single to load the bases.

The first out came when Collinger induced a flyout to left from Brayden McCourt.

Collinger then handled a comebacker off the bat of Michael Reeder, throwing home for out No. 2.

Warriors shortstop Royce Bowes came up with hopes of keeping his team alive, but Collinger got him to ground to Indians sophomore shortstop Will Olsen, who came up and glanced to second before throwing onto first for the out that ignited the celebration.

“I looked over to second to see if my teammate was there, and he was not,” Olsen said. “I knew then that I had to make the throw across (to first), and it went well. I was saying in my head that I wanted the ball to come to me to finish the game and do it for the seniors and all the upperclassmen. I wanted the ball in my hands to make the play.”

Collinger joined Minnick and Okapal in pitching the first 13 innings Monday against East Pennsboro.

“We have a lot of horses in the barn, and we’re not afraid to use any of them,” Petroff said of his pitching staff, including junior starter Sullivan Vanhoose.

“I couldn’t be happier for Mark. He made a couple of really good pitches. To come in with the bases loaded and help us get out of it, it is a moment he will remember forever.”

The quartet of Indiana hurlers Friday combined to give up seven hits and five walks while striking out five. Two of Montoursville’s four runs were earned.

Four Warriors batters were hit by pitches, three by Minnick. They left 12 runners on base.

“All the guys were a little fatigued, leg-wise, not really arms,” Petroff said. “The last two weeks, all of our games have been like this. Even games they didn’t pitch, all the guys you saw today all got hot during those game, so they were ready to go in all of those situations.”

Sophomore Chace Force and senior Tim Burch came up clutch in Indiana’s four-run second with back-to-back two-run singles. Indiana finished with five hits off of Montoursville starter Logan Kirby (four) and Mussina (one).

“That was huge for us,” Petroff said of the big second-inning outburst. “We don’t usually put big runs on the board. But we know with the pitching we have that if we get three or four, we’re usually pretty comfortable in winning the game or at least have a shot to win the game. We had a couple of clutch hits by Chace Force and Tim Burch. That was big for us. It helped some of the kids settle down.”

Indiana’s win was the second for WPIAL teams over the two days of championship games at Penn State.

Riverside won the Class 3A title Thursday, while Eden Christian (Class A), Shaler (Class 5A) and Freedom (Class 2A) all lost in their attempts for PIAA titles.

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Indiana