UNIVERSITY PARK — Indiana baseball coach Dan Petroff has talked about the target his team has proudly worn on its back all season long.
That target, no matter how big or how many strays tried to hit it, couldn’t deter Petroff’s team from making history Thursday afternoon.
Charlie Manzi recovered from a shaky start to the bottom of the seventh inning to retire the final three batters as the Indians (22-4) hung on to repeat as PIAA Class 4A baseball champions with a thrilling 6-5 win over District 1 powerhouse Holy Ghost Prep at Penn State’s Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.
Indiana became the fifth WPIAL program to repeat as PIAA baseball champions, joining Moon, Riverside (twice) and Bethel Park.
The late-inning drama was all too familiar to Petroff and his team. It was on this very field and by the exact same score that Holy Ghost clipped Indiana in 2024, the first of three consecutive state title game appearances by the Little Indians.
But Petroff, no matter how much he, or his stud relief pitcher, were sweating, never lost faith in his club.
“The last inning, the biggest out is the first out,” Petroff said. “He hits a guy and I’m like, ‘Oh boy.’ I knew they weren’t going to go down easily. I knew Charlie wouldn’t go down easily, so it was man-on-man that last inning and Charlie will come out on top when the going gets tough.”
With Indiana clinging to a 6-3 lead going to the bottom of the seventh, Manzi started the inning by hitting leadoff man Jake Keaser, then surrendered a run-scoring triple to Matthew Evans and a run-scoring double to Tyler Bergkotter, and all of a sudden, it was 6-5.
But the real drama in the inning came in the next at-bat when Holy Ghost (16-10) catcher Matthew Baker drilled a deep shot towards the left-field foul pole with one on that missed being fair by about five feet.
“I was scared for a second,” Manzi said. “Then I saw it was foul, and I was like, ‘All right, just lock back in. We’re good.’”
Manzi wasn’t good, he was great after that, striking out Baker and getting Jonathan Posivak and Colin Davis to both fly out to keep the title firmly in the grasp of Indiana.
“The two kids flew out on fastball, and I got the one kid on a slider on the strikeout. Luckily it worked. Just great. It was incredible,” Manzi said.
Manzi also doubled twice and hit a solo home run to left-center field, off Holy Ghost reliever Chris Schnauffer, that will loom larger as the years go on because that was the run that kept Holy Ghost just far enough away.
“It was a fastball. I knew he was going to throw it because he was tipping his pitches,” Manzi said. “I knew it was coming and I didn’t miss it.”
Manzi finished 3 for 4.
Manzi relieved starter Brady Oakes, who despite a 2-0 lead after the top half of the first inning ran into some trouble in the bottom half, giving up a double, walk and single to the first three batters in the order and then a two-run single to Baker to tie the game.
The lefty Oakes went four innings, allowed six hits, walked two and struck out four. He threw 59 pitches, but got stronger as the game went on, holding the Firebirds to the two runs until the fifth.
When Petroff turned to Manzi, he knew it was the right choice at the right time and knew his fiery right-hander would get the job done.
“I knew he would,” Petroff said. “He wanted the ball. I was debating throwing Brady one more. He was throwing the ball well. Charlie was in the dugout and said, ‘Coach, you got to let me finish this,’ and when Charlie says he’s ready to finish it, I give it to Charlie,” Petroff said.
Indiana’s big inning came when it chased Holy Ghost starter Matthew Riendeau after just one inning of work, thanks to the Indians drawing three walks from No. 8 hitter Mike Zimmerman, No. 9 hitter Ben Cowburn and leadoff man Chace Force.
After Oakes popped up to short, Ethan Shank clubbed an RBI single to make it 3-2. Sully VanHoose followed two batters later with a two-run single to make it 5-2. VanHoose reached base three times three different ways, via error, single and walk.
Riendeau took the loss, throwing just 45 pitches and facing 10 batters, allowing three earned runs and walking four.
While it looked like Indiana was on cruise control, there are no safe predictions in baseball. Still, Petroff was confident he could predict what Manzi would do to hold on to the title.
“Three batters and they smashed three barrels off me,” Manzi said “That’s just one great team right there. I knew I just had to get the job done. My defense went out and made plays for me.”
“You’ve only got to win this game by one run, and that’s what we did today,” Petroff added.