Southern Fulton (22-1) punched its ticket into the PIAA quarterfinals with a hard fought victory over the Juniata Valley Hornets 4-3 on Monday. 

 The game was tied at three in the bottom of the sixth when Owen Oakman was struck by a pitch, driving in  the winning run.

The Juniata Valley Hornets got on the board in the top of the first when Kyler Spurlin singled, scoring one run.

Southern Fulton was able to cash in on a JV error in the bottom half of the first.  The error allowed the Indians to tie the game at one.

Southern Fulton took the lead in the bottom of the second as Owen Oakman singled, scoring one run, to give Southern Fulton the leg up, 2-1.

JV answered back as Elijah Johns singled down the right field line, which helped Juniata Valley tie the game at two in the top of the third.

Southern Fulton battled back and took the lead in the bottom of the third. Oakman came up big again as he doubled to deep left, scoring one run, to give Southern Fulton the leg up, 3-2.

Juniata Valley fought back again with a Robert Hess single down the left field line, which helped Juniata Valley tie the game at three in the top of the sixth.

Colt Mann earned the win for Southern Fulton. The freshman reliever gave up zero hits and zero runs over one and two-thirds innings, striking out two and walking one. Spurlin took the loss for Hornets. The hurler went three innings, giving up one run on two hits, striking out one and walking six. Joel Fitz stepped on the mound first for Southern Fulton. The hurler surrendered seven hits and three runs over five and one-third innings, striking out four and walking one. Ethan Scalia started the game for Juniata Valley.  The hurler surrendered six hits and three runs (two earned) over three innings, striking out none and walking two.

Oakman finished 2-2 on the day leading Southern Fulton Indians with three runs batted in from the number eight spot.  Paul Hendershot also collected two hits for Southern Fulton. Southern Fulton just couldn’t find the big hit to open up the game as they stranded 14 runners in scoring position in the game.  

SF will play Cowanesque Valley on Thursday, 5 June at a site and time to be announced tomorrow.