WPIAL Class 3A baseball final

No. 5 South Park (15-5) vs. No. 3 Ellwood City (18-3)

1 p.m. Wednesday, EQT Park, Washington

On the air: Audio: Trib HSSN; Video: NFHS Network

WPIAL titles: South Park 2 (2022, 2013); Ellwood City 5 (2012, 2003, 2001, 1968, 1962)

South Park (15-5)

Coach: Corey Fischer

Probable Starting Lineup

3, Talan Glowa, CF, jr.

7, Cooper Hochendoner, P, sr.

16, Ryan Spitznagel, C, sr.

27, Andrew Mittleider, 3B, sr.

5, Johnny Parris, 2B, fr.

12, Jacob Raimondi, LF, jr.

23, Willy Hays, RF, sr.

42, Nolan Oliphant, 1B, sr.

26, Robert Lenzi, SS, sr.

How they got here: South Park defeated No. 12 Keystone Oaks, 3-0, in the first round; No. 4 Freeport, 4-1, in the quarterfinals; and No. 1 Avonworth, 5-2, in the semifinals.

Notable: South Park has allowed the fewest runs — three — among playoff baseball teams with three games played in the first three rounds of the WPIAL playoffs. The Eagles upended the top seed and section rival Antelopes at Gateway last Thursday as they rallied from an early 2-0 deficit with three runs in the third and single runs in the fourth and sixth innings. Staff ace Cooper Hochendoner (Slippery Rock) went the distance in only 79 pitches. He gave up nine hits but walked none and struck out four. He also was 2 for 3 with a double and three RBIs. Mittleider also collected two hits in four at-bats. The win avenged a section sweep by Avonworth in late April. Last year, South Park lost to Riverside, 2-1 in nine innings, in the semifinals but came back to edge Mohawk, 4-3, in the third-place game. The Eagles claimed gold in 2022 with an 11-1 win over Mohawk at EQT Park. Lenzi came on to pitch four innings of relief with five strikeouts in South Park’s 4-1 quarterfinal win over Freeport.

Ellwood City (18-3)

Coach: Christopher Weisz

Probable Starting Lineup

2, Gino Biondi, 2B, so.

27, Jordan Keller, C, sr.

3, Aaron Lake, P, sr.

8, Cameron Mills, 3B, so.

25, Jake Biskup, LF, sr.

5, Nate Kennedy, SS, sr.

1, Maykel Cuevas, CF, jr.

10, Geordon Bokor, DH, sr.

(7, Anthony Barberio, RF, sr.)

17, Matt Kelly, 1B, jr.

How they got here: Ellwood City defeated No. 14 Ligonier Valley, 3-0, in the first round; No. 11 Burrell, 5-4, in the quarterfinals; and No. 7 Riverside, 6-5, in the semifinals.

Notable: The Wolverines’ 6-5 win over No. 7 Riverside in the semifinals was their seventh in their past eight games. The Section 1 champions are averaging 8.5 runs per game and giving up 2.1 a contest. Ellwood City also was the No. 3 seed for last year’s Class 3A playoffs but fell to No. 11 Mohawk in the quarterfinals. They are tied with Hopewell, North Catholic, Seneca Valley, Serra Catholic and West Allegheny with five WPIAL championships. The Wolverines again used late-game heroics against Riverside to forge their second-straight one-run playoff victory. Ellwood City scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth to rally past the Panthers. Bondi connected on a two-run, two-out single to put the Wolverines ahead. Bokor collected three RBIs in the win, giving him 19 on the season. Keller is batting .527 (29 of 55) to front the potent Wolverine offense. He has collected a team-best 22 RBIs and 15 extra-base hits (10 doubles, one triple and four home runs). Lake has driven home 21 runs with five homers.