WARFORDSBURG — Something has to give.

In six baseball playoff games this season — three in the District 7 tournament and three in the PIAA Class 1A tourney — Vincentian Academy has scored 50 runs and allowed only one.

That would certainly make the Royals the favorite in the PIAA championship game, to be played Friday morning at 10:30 at Penn State’s Medlar Field at Lubrano Stadium, right?

Not so fast.

Vincentian’s opponent, the Southern Fulton Indians, have piled up 53 runs and allowed only three in six playoffs, three games in the District 5 tourney and three in states.

For statistics on both teams, see additional story: https://thesportspage.blog/2018/06/13/s-fulton-vs-vincentian-academy-stats/

SF coach Keith Potter said, “We know they are a quality team, they play in a tough conference, and they hit the fastball pretty well. But, honestly, (winning a state championship) has been our goal this year.”

The Royals (19-4) did win a state title in baseball, in 2016.

The Indians (19-4) are playing in their first state championship game, in any sport, and the school has had competitive athletics since 1933. The SF baseball team has made it to the semifinals twice and girls basketball did so once.

However, it seems that if destiny is involved, perhaps Southern Fulton is due. In each of the last three years — 2015 (Lancaster County Christian, PIAA semifinals), 2016 (Vincentian, PIAA quarterfinals) and 2017 (Meyersdale, District 5 playoffs), SF has lost in the playoffs to the eventual PIAA baseball champion in 1A.

Both teams won handily in five innings on Monday, SF 11-0 over Sayre, and the Royals 11-0 over Greensburg Central Catholic.

That means that both teams will have their entire pitching staff ready to go. Potter said he’ll make a decision on his starter the day of the game.

“It’s nice to have all of your weapons available for the championship,” Potter said. “I feel like we have a 1A and 1B, and even a good 2 I could start. I’ll just go with how I feel.”

Potter’s choices include Branden Lynch (7-1, 1.01 ERA), Gabe Stotler (8-2, 1.16 ERA) and Mitchell Potter (4-0, 1.18 ERA). Stotler pitched five innings Monday and has a fabulous walk/strikeout ratio of 9 to 62. Both he and Lynch have pitched 48.1 innings this year.

“We knew we’d be solid pitching-wise,” Potter said. “And that was a key this year because of all the rain that compressed the schedule. We still had good pitchers to run out there for every game, even the one time we played five games in a week.”

Vincentian coach Paul Quarantillo can pick between Aiden Thomson (2-2, 1.91 ERA) or Stephen Turzai (8-0, 1.16 ERA). Thomson pitched Monday, so it would be Turzai’s turn if the norm holds.

Stacked up against all of that strong pitching are some very good hitters. But none have the statistics of the Royals’ Kyler Fedko. He’s batting .649 for the season (37-for-57), has 39 RBIs, has scored 44 runs, and has 26 extra-base hits (8 HRs, 4 3Bs, 14 2Bs). In the playoffs, he is 10-for-13.

Fedko’s slugging percentage is 1.456, his on-base percentage is .741 and his OPS is a ridiculous 2.197. To compare, the New York Yankees lead the majors with an OPS of .794.

“Definitely looking at his stats, he’s a big-time hitter,” Potter said. “We heard he’s committed to UConn. His brother played against us two years ago in states (a 4-3 SF defeat).”

For Southern Fulton, the top hitters are Cooper Grove (.400, 24 RBIs, 32 runs), Lynch (.377, 31 RBIs, 3 HRs, 5 2Bs, 32 walks), Colton Souders (.324, 23 RBIs), Tyler Unger (.395), Josh Stocker (.383) and Stotler (.349).

“We knew we had pitching depth,” Potter said, “but I was only hoping we could hit this well 1 through 9. We don’t have much depth (11 players on the roster), but we’ve been blessed with good health, and guys like Stocker and (Eaven) Gordon started slow but are building now at the end.”

One interesting note about the Indians: they have drawn 160 walks this year, which is nearly seven per game.

Potter said, “They’re pretty patient. We try to go deep in the count and make the other pitcher work.”

The Indian coach does not think his team is over-hyped for the state final, and he hopes that carries through Friday.

“They’ve been handling it as well as could be expected,” he said. “Sometimes ignorance is bliss — the experienced guys knew what was happening, but some of the younger kids didn’t even realize when we won Monday that we were going to Penn State.”

Southern Fulton has been known as a school that follows its athletic teams well in the playoffs, and a big crowd of fans is expected to make it to Penn State for the game.

Potter said, “We’ve been really appreciative of the support the community has given us in the playoffs. It means a lot.”

The Indians hope to give those loyal fans something they’ll never forget — the school’s first state title.