It's difficult to win any baseball game when you commit eight errors. It's especially tough when you're playing in the first round of the Class 4A PIAA championships against the best of the best. Just ask the Thomas Jefferson Jaguars, the third seed from the WPIAL.

They found out the hard way Monday afternoon as East Pennsboro took advantage of the numerous miscues en route to an 11-4 victory at Clifford D. Bryner Field. The Panthers advance to face Indiana, 3-0 upset winners over defending state titlist Bellefonte, in Thursday quarterfinals at a neutral site and time to be determined.

"We have a special group here," East Pennsboro senior Isaac Gilbert said. "There wasn't an aspect of the game that we didn't play well today. I think that this team can carry our way to the state championship.

" Thomas Jefferson scored the game's first run on a pair of singles from Luke Kosko and Tyler Lesko. But East Pennsboro (20-2) immediately responded in its first at-bats off starting pitcher Elias Lippincott. The 6-foot-2 southpaw struggled to find the strike zone from the outset.

He walked Lucas Martz, beaned Aaron Angelo and walked Andrew Seibert to load the bases. That brought up clean-up hitter Gilbert, who tattooed one of the few strikes Lippincott threw into the left-centerfield gap, clearing the bases. "I took the first outside fastball," Gilbert said.

"I was heel to toe, shout out to Coach Rogers, saw the fastball right down the middle, and plastered it to the wall. It felt amazing.