PIAA Class 4A baseball championship preview: Indiana vs. Montoursville

By: Don Rebel
Thursday, June 12, 2025 | 6:59 PM

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For two decades, the PIAA has crowned a state champion in Class 4A.

The first 4A state champion was Penn Manor from District 3 in 2005.

Since then, five teams from District 7 have won state championships in Class 4A.

Seneca Valley was the first to do it in 2007. Canon-McMillan was the second when it captured 4A gold a year later in 2008.

Since the expansion to six classifications, Ringgold in 2018, New Castle in 2021 and Montour in 2022 all won PIAA 4A titles from the WPIAL.

Only Selinsgrove in 2019 has won a state championship in Class 4A from District 4.

Here is a look at the fifth of six PIAA baseball championship games at Penn State that will take place early Friday afternoon.

Class 4A

Indiana (25-1) vs. Montoursville (20-4)

1:30 p.m. Friday, Medlar Field at Lubrano Park at Penn State

Broadcast: Video on PCN-TV

Coaches: Dan Petroff, Indiana; Jeremy Eck, Montoursville

Path to Penn State: Indiana defeated District 6 champion Bellefonte, 1-0, in 12 innings in the first round; WPIAL No. 3 Central Valley, 8-0, in the quarterfinals; District 3 champion East Pennsboro, 6-5, in 17 innings in the semifinals. …Montoursville knocked off District 2 runner-up Crestwood, 18-0, in three innings in the first round; District 3 No. 3 Fleetwood, 6-4, in the quarterfinals; District 1 champion Pope John Paul II, 6-0, in the semifinals.

District postseason: Indiana eliminated Ambridge, 1-0, in nine innings in the quarterfinals; Belle Vernon, 11-2, in the semifinals; Elizabeth Forward, 4-2, in 11 innings in the WPIAL championship game. …Montoursville ousted Athens, 11-1, in the semifinals; Danville, 7-3, in the District 4 championship game

Players to Watch

Indiana: The Little Indians have showed off their pitching depth in the postseason with three shutouts. Four of the six games played have gone extra innings, including a PIAA playoff-record 17 innings in the semifinal win over East Pennsboro. In that marathon victory, senior hurlers Mark Collinger, Ryan Okopal and Texas Tech commit Greg Minnick pitched the first 13 innings, then sophomore Brady Oakes pitched one-hit ball over the final four innings to pick up the win. Collinger drove home two runs with a double and senior Tim Birch had three hits and two RBIs. Birch also had three hits in the first round win over Bellefonte. Junior Charlie Manzi, who was the hero of the WPIAL title game with a walk-off home run against Elizabeth Forward, was 3 for 3 with an RBI in the state quarterfinal victory over Central Valley.

Montoursville: Senior Michael Reeder leads the Warriors in batting with a .472 average (25 of 53). Fellow senior Jimmy Mussina is batting .463 (31 for 67) and Royce Bowes is hitting .462 (37 for 80). Sophomore Noah Kirby leads Montoursville with 34 RBIs. Junior Logan Kirby threw a complete game in the state semifinals, allowing six hits with one walk in the shutout of Pope John Paul II, to improve to 8-0 for the season. Mussina, the son of former major league pitcher Mike Mussina, is likely to start for the Warriors. He is 6-1 with a 0.87 ERA.

Streaks: Indiana has won 12 games in a row since suffering its only loss of the season April 24 to Connellsville, 10-1. … Montoursville has won seven games in a row since losing to Williamsport on May 10, 5-3.

Quotable: “It means a ton to all of us, especially after coming up short last season,” Indiana senior pitcher Greg Minnick said. “For the seniors, we all want to go out on a win and make the most of our final game together. We’ve had a roller-coaster of a run in many ways throughout the playoffs and we are looking to add the cherry on top of a great season.”

Factoids

• Indiana is 7-3 all-time in the PIAA baseball playoffs in its fourth appearance in the state playoffs. This will be the Little Indians’ second state championship game. Last spring, Indiana defeated Bellefonte, East Pennsboro and Fleetwood to advance to the program’s first state title game. At Penn State, the Little Indians lost to Holy Ghost Prep, 6-5.

• Montoursville has an all-time record of 28-17 in the PIAA playoffs in this, its 19th appearance. This is the sixth state championship game appearance for the Warriors. Montoursville beat Bethel Park in the 1985 3A finals, 5-0; they lost a year later to Hopewell in 1986, 2-0; they fell in the 1990 2A champion game to Center, 9-6; two years later, they won the 1992 3A title game over DuBois, 4-1; and in their most recent state title game, the Warriors lost to Riverside in the 2006 2A finals, 7-4.

• Following a surprise run in the district playoffs two years ago, Indiana beat East Pennsboro in the first round before falling to Bellefonte in the quarters. The only other appearance in the state playoffs for Indiana came in the spring of 2000 when it lost in the first round to Hopewell. In the district and state playoffs, the Little Indians have played 21 extra innings, the equivalent of three full seven-inning regulation games.

• The Warriors are 1-3 against WPIAL teams in the state playoffs, all in the state title games listed above. They are 1-0 in the PIAA playoffs against Pittsburgh City League teams after Montoursville defeated Peabody in the 1980 state playoffs, 3-2. Mike Mussina, who pitched for the Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees from 1991 to 2008, was a member of the Warriors baseball team that reached the PIAA final in 1985 and 1986. He was 24-4 with a 0.87 ERA in his high school career.

Tags: Indiana