ELLWOOD CITY — Following a tough 6-1 loss to Tyrone in the District 6 Class 3A championship game last week, long-time Philipsburg-Osceola baseball coach Doug Sankey talked about his team’s history of enjoying success in the PIAA playoffs when entering states as the D-6 runner-up instead of being the champ.

Sankey obviously knew what he was talking about, as his team — and more specifically ace pitcher Archer Baughman — bounced back in a bigway from that loss to the Golden Eagles by knocking off WPIAL champ Ellwood City, 4-1, on its home field Monday afternoon in the opening round of the state playoffs.

And, Baughman played a huge role in the win as he tossed a two-hitter in helping lead the Mounties to the second round of the PIAA playoffs. Baughman took a one-hitter into the bottom of the seventh before Ellwood City (19-4) made things a little interesting in game P-O led 4-0.

Wolverine Aaron Lake drew a leadoff walk to in the seventh, and after a strikeout, Baughman hit Jake Biskup to put two on with one out. Nate Kennedy then stepped in an ripped a single to right to score Lake to make it a 4-1 game.

That’s as close as Ellwood City got though, as baughman got Maykel Ciuevas to groundout to third before the Mountie righty struck out Geordon Bokor to end the game and finish off his compete-game effort on 103 pitches.

Baughman allowed the one earned run on two hits while striking out nine and walking a pair. Hewas backed by an opportunistic offense that had just six hits itself against Lake and reliever Kennedy.

Both starters — Baughman and Lake — put up zeros through three innings. each team had runners on in that opening stretch but couldn’t come up with the key hit to break the ice.

Philipsburg-Osceola finally proved to be the team to do that in the fourth.

Fischer White jump-started that rally with a leadoff walk, but Lake responded by striking out Parker Lamb. Zach Yoder then reached on an error before a bunt single by Damarcus Law loaded the bases with one gone.

Mountie Nick DeSimone then delivered the biggest hit of the game as he ripped a double to right field to clear the bases and give P-O a 3-0 lead. That proved to be all the run support Baughman needed on this day.

Baughman responded by retiring the side in the bottom of the fourth and worked around a leadoff walk in the fifth.

Meanwhile, the Mounties added an insurance runin the sixth.

Lamb led off the inning with a single and took second on a passed ball before scoring on a Zach Yoder single to right to put his team up 4-0. Lamb was the lone Mountie with two hits on the day.

Baughman quickly retired the side in order in the bottom of the sixth before P-O threatened again in the seventh.

Jack Cartwright drew a leadoff walk in that final inning, but Kennedy countered by picking off Cartwright before Warren Rafferty lined out.

Leadoff man Connor Guenot kept the inning alive with a two-out double to left. Baughman was then intentionally walked and replaced by courtesy runner Jake Lucas. Unfortunately for P-O, Lucas was picked off first base to end the inning.

Ellwood City tried to make some noise with its season on the line but could only muster the one run off Baughman in the bottom of the seventh as P-O proved to be the team to move on.

The Mounties (15-8) will now face District 10 champ Fairview (17-1) in the PIAA quarterfinals on Thursday at a site and time to be determined. The Tigers beat Riverside, 3-1, on Monday in their states opener. Riverside was the No. 4 seed from the WPIAL.

PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA 4,

ELLWOOD CITY 1

Score by Innings

P-O 000 3001 0 — 4

Ellwood City 000 000 1 — 1

Philipsburg-Osceola—4

Connor Guenot 2b 3010, Archer Baughman p 3000, Fischer White 1b 2000, M Klinger pr 01000, Parker Lamb ss 3120, Zach Yoder cf 3111, Damarcus Law lf 2110, Nick DeSimone rf 3013, Jack Cartwright dh 2000, Connor Matier c 0000, Warren Rafferty 3b 3000. Totals: 24-4-5-4.

Ellwood City—1

Biondo 2b 3010, Keller c 3000, Lake p 1100, Mills 3b 3000, Biskup lf 2000, Kennedy ss-p 2011, Cuevas cf 2000, Bokor dh 3000, Kelly 1b 2000. Totals: 21-1-2-1.

Errors: PO 0, EC 1 (Biondi). 2B: Guenot. HBP: Law (by Lake); Biskup (by Baughman), Cuevas (by Baughman), Lake (by Baughman). SB: Biondi.

Pitching

P-O: Archer Baughman-7 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 9 SO, 3 HB.

Ellwood City: Lake-5 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO, 1 HB; Kennedy-2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 0 SO.

WP: Baughman. LP: Lake.