Pittston Area will be home in the afternoon and Wyoming Area will play a road, night game Monday when the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association state baseball playoffs open.
The Patriots will host District 3 runner-up Lower Dauphin in a meeting of 20-3 teams at 4:30 at the Pittston Area Primary Center in a Class 5A first-round game.
The Warriors (19-4) take on District 4 champion Montoursville (17-4) at the Lycoming Valley Intermediate School in Williamsport in Class 4A at 6:30.
Beau Widdick leads the Pittston Area offense with a .459 batting average, seven doubles, five triples, 15 stolen bases, and 27 runs. He is second on the team in RBI behind Jacoby Harnen, who leads the Patriots with five home runs and ranks second in batting average.
University of Pittsburgh commit Elijah Barr has picked up the pitching wins over Hazleton Area in the Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 championship game and over Abington Heights and Dallas in the last two rounds of the District 2 tournament.
Lower Dauphin had an eight-game winning streak snapped in a 6-5 loss to Lampeter-Strasburg in the District 3 championship game. Its other two losses came to Palmyra, which was unbeaten in the Mid Penn Conference Keystone Division and 19-2 overall.
The Falcons rallied from a 4-1 deficit into a tie before falling short against the repeat district champions.
Montoursville, a state finalist a year ago, is led by the brother battery of senior pitcher Logan Kirby and junior catcher Noah Kirby.
Logan Kirby has several big playoff performances in his career, including the win in last year’s state semifinal. He strikes out more than 10 batters for every walk he issues and has an earned run average below 1.00.
Noah Kirby is the team’s leading run producer.
Logan Kirby struck out 11 in 6 1/3 innings in a 9-3 victory over Athens in the District 4 final Thursday. Noah Kirby doubled twice and drove in two runs.
Alex Vacula is batting .525 with eight doubles, four triples, three homers and 38 RBI for Wyoming Area.
Jake Snyder, who has scored 36 runs, and Ben Rogish have each stolen 26 bases. Snyder has not been caught and Rogish was thrown out just once.
Snyder is also 4-0 with a save, 54 strikeouts in 35 innings and a 1.60 ERA.
