Sentinel photo by MIKE GOSS Juniata catcher Camden Bargo makes a force out on St. Joe's Joey Gearhart at home plate.

By Connor Jackson

Sports correspondent

MIFFLINTOWN — The Juniata baseball team held a 4-2 lead before an eight-run fifth inning propelled the St. Joe’s WolfPack to an 11-5 victory Wednesday.

The loss was the Indians’ first game of the 2026 season. “We let it get out of hand a bit,” Juniata coach Adam Geedey said. “Just one bad inning, and that can be enough.”

Daylyn Kennedy started on the mound for the Indians, pitching 4 �…” innings with seven runs allowed. Cam Bargo was 2-for-4 for Juniata with two singles and an RBI to lead the Indians at the plate with no other player having a multi-hit game.

“Some walks happened, some untimely things happened,” Geedey said. “We had key situations where we had second and third and didn’t score. Give it to them, they hit the ball all over the field today. They pitched well, so hats off to them.”

The two teams each scored a run in the first inning. A solo home run from C.J. Grove gave the WolfPack a 2-1 lead before a three-run fourth put the Indians in front 4-2. The competitive phase of the game started to fade as the top of the fifth became a long one for Juniata.

Kennedy was replaced by Drew Geedey during the inning but it didn’t stop the bleeding as three more runs were scored after Geedey took over on the mound.

Overall, coach Geedey was pleased with some of what he saw from his team in the first game. “Definitely loved the fight,” Geedey said. “It wasn’t a horrible game, we definitely did some really good things. Some things we have to work on, first game of the season got some jitters out, hopefully we will turn things around here.”

St. Joe’s starts their season 2-0 while Juniata (0-1) will look to get their first win when they play at Lewisburg at 4:30 p.m. Friday.