Central High School won the PIAA Class 3A baseball championship on Friday, beating Lancaster Catholic, 13-2, in five innings at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski

UNIVERSITY PARK — The Central High School baseball team won its second PIAA Class 3A championship in school history Friday afternoon at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park by beating Lancaster Catholic, 13-2, in five innings.

The Scarlet Dragons finished 27-0 for the first time in their storied program’s history.

“People don’t understand how hard it is to go undefeated in baseball,” Central coach A.J. Hoenstine said. “There are so many little things that can go wrong, but these guys battled and grinded. I couldn’t be prouder of them. The guys came through. They didn’t blink. This means a lot.”

Junior Jeff Hoenstine, A.J.’s son, had three hits, two RBIs and scored two runs. Sophomore Hunter Smith had two hits and three RBIs, and winning pitcher Devon Boyles had a pair of hits and drove in two runs.

Central scored six runs with two outs in the second inning and added another six-run outburst in the top of the fourth inning which led to the game being called after five innings due to the 10-run mercy rule.

More than 3,500 tickets were sold for the three games played in University Park on Friday, and most of those were bought by Central fans who formed a sea of red in the stadium.

“They come out to every game supporting us,” Boyles said. “They are better than any crowd that I have ever seen. It feels really good to be out here and hearing them cheering for us.”