Ellwood City, Riverside Each Bow Out In The PIAA Opening Round

Two rivals will not meet for a fourth time this year.

Ellwood City and Riverside both fell in the opening round of the PIAA Playoffs on Monday abandoning a potential quarterfinal matchup and fourth meeting of the cross town teams.

WPIAL Champion Ellwood City was defeated 4-1 by Philipsburg-Osceola Monday evening at Sanders Field in Ewing Park.

A 3-run fourth inning by the visiting Mounties was enough to back starting pitcher Archer Baughman who tossed a complete game two-hitter. Baughman struck out nine Wolverines. Mountie Nick DeSimone delivered the game’s biggest hit as he doubled to right field to clear the bases and give Philipsburg-Osceola its 3-0 lead.

Aaron Lake took the loss for Ellwood City, lasting five innings allowing only one earned run. Lake struck out four and walked two in defeat. Nate Kennedy tossed two innings of scoreless relief for the Wolverines.

Biondi and Kennedy were the only two batters to collect hits off Baughman. Kennedy added a walk and the lone RBI for the Wolverines in defeat.

Ellwood City finishes the season at 19-4 (8-2) and the WPIAL Class 3A champion, a first title since 2012.

Crosstown rival Riverside traveled to Erie Monday afternoon and was defeated by Fairview 3-1 in PIAA opening round play at Mercyhurst University.

After scratching out the game’s first run in the opening frame by way of a walk and two errors, Riverside was held to three singles by Fairview (17-1 Overall) pitchers.

Starter Robert Benford struck out eight Panthers across his four innings of work to earn the win.

Matt Santillo took the loss for Riverside. The starter lasted the duration of the contest, finishing with five strikeouts and allowing only two earned runs across his six innings of work. Jackson Barber had a two hit performance offensively for the Panthers in defeat.

Riverside finished their season 12-10.

South Park, WPIAL Class 3A runner-up, was the only WPIAL team to gain a Class 3A PIAA opening round victory on Monday.