Upper Dublin too much for Shaler in PIAA Class 5A final

By: Michael Love
Thursday, June 12, 2025 | 10:40 PM

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UNIVERSITY PARK — In the PIAA Class 5A finals two years ago, the Shaler baseball team made an epic comeback from down five runs to stun Strath Haven and claim the program’s second state championship.

The Titans hoped for some similar magic Thursday evening after they dug themselves a six-run hole to District 1 runner-up Upper Dublin in the 5A title clash at Penn State’s Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.

But the Cardinals had other ideas and quelled Shaler’s comeback hopes.

Upper Dublin collected 13 hits and rode the pitching of freshman staff ace Luke Caron to an 8-2 victory and the program’s first state championship.

Shaler, the WPIAL champion, capped its season at 20-6 overall. The Titans had won seven straight since back-to-back losses to Mars and North Allegheny to close out the regular season.

“I am proud of these guys,” Shaler coach Brian Junker said. “If you asked a couple of teams we played back in March if Shaler was going to be in the state championship game, they probably would’ve laughed at you. This team got better every week, and they did everything we asked of them. This hurts because you put in all the work, and you grow to love these kids. You come here to win, and it hurts to come up short. We’re not used to this silver.”

Upper Dublin’s state title victory comes in its first appearance in a PIAA final.

The Cardinals lost in the first round in three previous state tournaments, including last spring. Before this year, Upper Dublin’s furthest venture in the PIAA playoffs came in 2022 when it made the quarterfinals.

“I will remember the chemistry of this team and the love these guys have for each other,” Cardinals coach Ed Wall said. “A lot of teams are thinking about senior week and grad parties, but these guys are here with all their buddies. They don’t want to be anywhere else. They set this goal four years ago watching the ’22 team get as far as the program had every gotten. They made a pact that they wanted to get further.”

Upper Dublin hit throughout the lineup early on, amassing nine hits through the first three innings.

Caron helped himself and got his team on the board with some two-out lighting in the bottom of the second.

After Shaler starter Dante DeLeonibus induced a pair of infield pop-outs, Upper Dublin left fielder Wes Gill singled and came around to score on a single from Caron.

The Cardinals added three runs on five hits in the third and three more runs on the strength of two walks and two more hits in the fourth.

“We had to throw strike one more,” Junker said. “We tried to throw 65 percent first-pitch strikes, and I don’t think we did that. From there, you get traffic on the basepaths, and I don’t think we played very cleanly. They did a nice job of putting the ball in play, even though it was a lot of weaker contact. I think we hit the ball a little harder. When you are putting guys on base with walks, you don’t really have a shot. We just had too many errors.”

Shaler was without the services of ace Colby Weber, a senior, who pitched a complete-game three-hitter with nine strikeouts in the Titans’ semifinal win over District 3’s Lampeter Strasburg.

DeLeonibus worked into the third inning before he was taken out in favor of junior Salvatore Leo.

Junker then returned DeLeonibus to the mound with one out in the fifth, and he went the rest of the way. He was tagged with 11 of Upper Dublin’s 13 hits. He struck out three and walked one.

Shaler scored its first run in the bottom of the third as senior Landon Schiffhauer belted a ball to the gap and motored his way to third.

After a walk to senior Brendan Fitzgerald put two runners on, senior Logan Bauer, No. 9 in the Titans lineup, laid down a successful bunt single to bring home Schiffhauer to make it 4-1.

Fitzgerald figured into the second Shaler run as he led off the fifth with a double before moving to second on a one-out single from senior Kaleb Jockel.

A balk from Caron brought home Fitzgerald from third to cut the Titans’ deficit to five at 7-2.

Upper Dublin capped the scoring in the top of the sixth as sophomore Matthew Logerstedt, with two outs, turned on a pitch from DeLeonibus and deposited it in the right field bleachers.

Caron was strong in his overall performance, allowing five hits and the two earned runs while striking out five and walking three.

He improved to 3-0 in the state playoffs with 17 strikeouts in 16⅓ innings of work.

“We’ve been playing some outstanding defense, and pitching has helped us win some really close ones,” Wall said. “This is what happens when our bats work to their capabilities.”

Schiffhauer, just one part of a senior-laden group in the Shaler starting lineup, finished with two of the Titans’ five hits. In addition to his third inning triple, he led off the bottom of the seventh with a single. But Caron and the Upper Dublin defense didn’t let him advance past first. A pop out to short, a strikeout, and a grounder to second ended the game and ignited a Cardinals celebration.

Junker said it will be tough to say goodbye to this Titans senior group.

“It feels like I’ve been with them for 10 years,” he said. “It’s going to be different. They were all campers at my camp, so I’ve known them since they were 6 years old. I’m going to miss them.”

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.

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