Live team sports competition has returned to northeastern Pennsylvania.
It did so in a new form.
Tyler Jackson pitched a scoreless inning on his former high school field Tuesday night to help the Gray defeat the White, 8-3, at Pittston Area in one of three games that were part of the debut of the Baseball U Pennsylvania Collegiate Summer League.
Jackson, a Pittston Area graduate now pitching at Penn State Harrisburg, returned to the Primary Center Field in Hughestown where he walked one and struck one during his only inning on the mound.
The six-team league, created after precautions related to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic wiped out the schedules for the bulk of the college baseball season and the entirety of many previously existing college summer leagues around the country, was scheduled to continue with three doubleheaders Saturday.
Joe Stella, another Pittston Area graduate, now playing National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I baseball at the University of Maine, started at catcher for White and went 0-for-2.
Pittston Area’s Joe Cencetti, who is headed to Thomas Jefferson University, started at third base and had one of the Black team’s two hits during an 8-3 loss to Orange at Keystone College. He went 1-for-2 and scored a run.
Wyoming Area graduate Steve Homza, who plays at Division I Central Connecticut State, also started for the Black. He went 0-for-1 and drew a walk.
Cole Coolbaugh, a recent Wyoming Area graduate who is committed to Division I Fairleigh Dickinson University, was the final pitcher used by Vegas in a 5-3 loss to Steel at Hilldale in Plains Township.
Coolbaugh worked 1 2/3 scoreless innings. He gave up one hit, struck out two and did not walk a batter.
