Hopewell's Matt Rubino caused a stir in Japan when he bounced a home run off the scoreboard at Consol Energy Park.

News spread fast.

"I'm sure I'll get a call from Okinawa soon," said Rubino, who combined with teammate Scott Dierdorf to hit consecutive homers in the fourth inning of Tuesday's 2-1 victory over Moon in the WPIAL Class AAA championship game.

Rubino's parents reside in Okinawa, where the high school junior lived for four months last fall before moving to Hopewell. The catcher returned to the U.S. to live with his uncle, an assistant coach with the Hopewell baseball team.

His father, U.S. Marine Col. James Rubino, and mother, Melissa, were listening to the game online in Okinawa — a 13-hour time difference — and called their son when the game ended. Before moving to Japan, the family lived in Potomac Falls, Va.

"They wouldn't have sent me back here if they didn't think we were going to win a championship," said Rubino, whose father won a WPIAL baseball title with Beaver in 1983.

This was the third WPIAL title for Hopewell (22-1), which last won gold in 2000. Longtime coach Joe Colella, who has coached the Vikings since 1964, has been around for them all. Moon (17-5) was trying to repeat as Class AAA champion.

"They have two guys who can hurt you on that team, and that's what happened," Moon coach Dom Santeufemio said. "We made some mistakes, and they made us pay."

Hopewell's homers came within a three-pitch span.

With two outs in the fourth, Dierdorf pulled a Brad Schnelle curveball down the third-base line, a home run ball that narrowly slipped inside the foul pole and barely cleared the 325-foot sign in left field. Two pitches later, the left-handed hitting Rubino bounced a change-up off the top of the scoreboard in right field, a mammoth home run that gave Hopewell a 2-0 lead.

"I actually didn't think it was gone," Rubino said with a laugh. "I was sprinting around first thinking I'm going to try to get as many bases as I can."

The home run pitches were rare mistakes by Schnelle, who has outstanding for Moon. The hard-throwing right-hander held Hopewell to one run when the Section 3 rivals last met May 7, a Moon victory that spoiled Hopewell's perfect record.

On Tuesday, Schnelle allowed eight hits and struck out five.

"The last time we played them, he dominated us," Colella said.

Rubino and Dierdorf had each hit 10 home runs during the regular season, the Nos. 4 and 5 hitters in what became one of the most dangerous lineups in the WPIAL. The two have homered in the same game many times this season.

"There was a big competition between us going back and forth," Dierdorf said. "He'd hit one, and then I'd hit one. Then the next game, we'd do the same thing."

But this was the first time they hit back-to-back blasts

"It's been fun (to watch Dierdorf and Rubino)," Colella said. "Especially when you're coaching third base, because you've got a really good view."

In the sixth, Moon's Zak Schmidt hit a leadoff double, moved to third on Mike Jeffrey's sacrifice fly and scored when Brett Hoffman hit a long fly to right. That was the only time Moon had a runner reach third base against Dierdorf. The senior allowed six hits and struck out eight.

"Their pitcher was just a little better than our pitcher today," Santeufemio said.

This was the sixth meeting in two seasons between the Section 3 rivals, including a 14-inning game last year when top-seeded Hopewell was upset by Moon in the WPIAL semifinals. Moon eventually won the Class AAA title.

For Hopewell, this was payback.

"It's a good feeling," Dierdorf said, "It's always good to beat Moon."

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