2026

The 2025-2026 Lancaster Lebanon baseball season was an incredible season to watch, with something exciting happening in all four sections of our league. Manheim Township captured their 3rd League Championship in the last 5 years, and 8th overall since 1970. The Blue Streaks started out 8-0 in Section play, including beating Hempfield and Ephrata by one run both times. MT finished the regular season 14-6 and 9-1 in Section 1, with the only loss being to Hempfield 6-0 at home. The Blue Streaks survived a scare from the Barons of Manheim Central in the opening round of leagues as they won 2-0, came back in the bottom of the 7th to beat Northern Lebanon 2-1 in the semifinals, and beat Lampeter Strasburg 2-0 in the 2026 LL Championship game in 9 innings! Coach Kirchoff and the rest of the Blue Streaks always find the pitching arms to give them a chance to win. Will they be on top in 2028? Time will tell. The Streaks finished as the 6 seed in D3 6A and fell at home 6-3 to the eventual D3 6A Champs in Muhlenberg. Just across Route 72, the Black Knights of Hempfield finished as the runner up in a wild Section 1 race. After a loss to Central Dauphin on April 9, Hempfield did not lose a game for almost a calendar month. The Black Knights won 14 in a row which gave them the nod to snag the first spot in the D3 ranks. The Knights shut out Ephrata twice and MT once en route to earning the second spot in LL Sect. 1. Hempfield fell to Lampeter Strasburg in the LL Semifinals at Penn Medicine Park 8-7 after a spirited comeback in the top of the 7th. Hempfield earned the 1-seed as stated before in Districts, so they had a few extra days off before beating defending 6A PIAA Champion Cedar Cliff 8-3. Hempfield then fell to Chambersburg in the D3 6A semifinals. Hempfield finished up 3rd in D3 with a 5-1 win over Ephrata before losing to Hazleton for the second year in a row to end the Black Knights season. Although Ephrata did not make the LL playoffs, the Mounts did finish the year as the 2-seed in District 3. The Mounts got a 2-1 win over Mechanicsburg in the quarterfinal round before falling to Muhlenberg in the semifinal round. Ephrata then fell to Pennsbury in the opening round of the 6A States. Ephrata has made the 6A PIAA Tournament for the last 3 seasons. Elsewhere around Section 1, the only other news of note is that Gilbert Vega stepped down as the Mccaskey head coach. The Tornadoes will have a new administration in 2027. In Section 2, the Lampeter Strasburg Pioneers climbed to the top again, winning the Section 2 crown for the 2nd year in a row. The Pios started out the year 6-0 before an upset loss to Solanco of all teams, haha. The Pioneers got back quickly to winning ways and finished the season 16-3-1 and 7-2-1 in Section 2 after a “tie” to Warwick on the final day of the regular season for the winner take all Section 2 Crown. LS got a 1-0 win over Lancaster Catholic in the quarters, a heroic walkoff 8-7 win thanks to the no-doubt swing of Cole Shehan, and lost to MT in the Championship game. The Pioneers rebounded and won 4 in a row to capture the 2026 D3 6A crown for the second year in a row, defeating Lower Dauphin 6-5 in the title game. PSU Pledge Cooper Hillen threw 3 cold innings on the mound to earn the save. The Pioneers won the opening PIAA round game 4-0 over Thomas Jefferson 4-0…without either team recording a hit. LS then fell in the quarters to Hollidaysburg. Warwick earned the 2nd spot in Section 2. Out of absolutely nowhere, the boys from Lititz took Section 2 by storm and made their final Section 2 game a winner take all date with the Pioneers. Since Warrior Field does not have lights and the game was tied in the 9th, the teams were ruled as Co-champs. Both teams had a trillion chances to win it, and it stinks that we will never know who would’ve won that game had there been lights. Warwick had a shaky non-conference schedule, but the 2027 Warriors can have a grand amount of confidence as they go hunting for a Section 2 crown in 2027. The Warriors really only lose Connor Meck (who was a 1st team selection), but other than that, I feel great about the Warriors chances in 2027. Warwick lost in the quarters of the LL Playoffs 10-0 to Northern Lebanon, and then fell to Manheim Central 3-2 in the District playoffs. Look out for the Warriors next year. The only other notes in Section 2 are that Mike Miller is out as the Solanco Head Coach. We wish him the best with what is next. In Section 3, Donegal captured yet another Section crown as they went 9-1 in Section games and outscored their opponents 85-13 in those 10 games! The Tribe won the winner take all final game of the season over Manheim Central 4-1 at Baron Field thanks to Caleb Rupp’s tie-breaking 3-run shot in the top of the 7th! Donegal hosted Hempfield in the opening round of Leagues but fell 5-0. They hosted Redland a week later and lost that one as well 5-0. The Tribe finished the year 15-7 with another Section crown in their pockets and finished as the 4th seed in regular season District rank. The Barons of Manheim Central finished runner up in Section 3 after a tough few losses to end the regular season. The Barons lost in the QF round of Leagues to the eventual league champs, beat Warwick 3-2 in the opening round of the D3 5A playoffs, and then fell to the eventual PIAA 5A State Champions in Greencastle-Antrim. In Section 4, Northern Lebanon FINALLY jumped over the playoff hump, winning their first District title in school history. The Vikings ripped through a perfect regular season, giving them their 3rd Section Crown in a row. The Vikings held wins over Hershey, Conestoga Valley(2x), Blue Mountain, and Cedar Crest. The Vikings dropped a heartbreaker in the LL semis to Manheim Township, but then went on a run where they won 3 games in a row and captured the District 4A title. The Vikings then fell to Archbishop Wood in the opening round of States. The rest of Section 4 was pretty down, Lancaster Catholic finished 2nd in the race, and gave LS hell, but could not pull out the win. Pequea Valley then was the team to qualify for the D3 3A tournament, but fell to Berks Catholic in the opening round of Districts. The countdown to 2027 is on! Attached below will be the section races and playoff brackets.