HYDE – Home runs by Jeremy Aharrah, Greg Sobol and Gabe Wonderling, all with teammates on base, powered Brookville past Clearfield 10-7 in non-league scholastic baseball action at the Bison Sports Complex Saturday afternoon.
The trio of fence-clearing blows accounted for seven runs as the once-beaten Raiders got seven of their 12 hits, seven runs and nine runs batted in from the first four hitters in their lineup, which has three-sport standout Joe Galbraith at the top.
\”That\’s an all-senior team, and this should be their year,\” Clearfield coach Sid Lansberry pointed out. \”They won District 9 double A last year. Basically, it\’s the same group of players who beat Punxsutawney in the (Jefferson County) Legion League finals and then went on and won two games at regionals.\”
After having a make-up game against Westmont Hilltop earlier in the day postponed because of field conditions, the Bisons had to play catch-up throughout their home opener.
They did get even at 2-2 in the second inning, offsetting Aharrah\’s first-inning, two-run homer to left with singletons in their first two cracks at Tyler Ferry, Brookville\’s No. 3 starter.
Two-out doubles by Tanner St. Clair and Parker Herrington produced a run in the first, and David Ryan\’s two-out single drove in courtesy runner Justin Hoffman with the equalizer in the second.
However, the Raiders went ahead to stay in the third. Aharrah doubled to plate Galbraith, who reached base on an error, and Sobol followed with a blast to dead center.
St. Clair got one run back with his second homer in as many games, giving the junior left fielder/designated hitter eight hits and a .400 average. Six have gone for extra bases, which translates into a .900 slugging average.
\”He\’s really been hot, and he\’s hitting the ball hard,\” Lansberry said.
In the fourth frame, batters at the bottom of the both lineups delivered important hits.
Brookville\’s Shane Heschke tripled in an unearned run and scored on Galbraith\’s single, which prompted Lansberry to pull Michael Moyer in favor of Isaac Butler.
Clearfield\’s Ryan singled for a pair of RBIs after Derek Danver and Butler had led off with hits, keeping the Bisons close at 7-5.
\”David had a great day in the number nine spot with two key hits and three RBIs,\” Lansberry said.
Butler retired five of the first six Raiders he faced and got some help from catcher Matt Lonjin, who threw out courtesy runner Logan Mumford for the first out in the sixth inning.
Then, Heschke singled, Galbraith walked and Wonderling clubbed a home run to right for what proved to be the deciding three runs, for the Bisons came back with a pair.
Singles by Hoffman and Aaron Sayers around a walk to Ryan and Brookville\’s lone miscue on St. Clair\’s grounder made it 10-7 with the tying runs on base. Ferry escaped with his second win when Herrington grounded into a forceout.
\”We were within one or two hits of tying it up, or possibly going ahead there,\” Lansberry said.
Reliever James Hecei set down the Bisons in order in the seventh.
The Bisons fell to 0-6 for Central Penn League games at Punxsutawney (0-2, 0-2 CPL) Tuesday and home against streaking Central Mountain (6-1, 3-1) Thursday.
\”This probably was the best game we\’ve played defensively, and we continued to hit the ball fairly well,\” Lansberry said. \”What hurt us were the home runs. They were well hit. The wind was blowing straight out, but all the homers were legitimate.\”
The Bisons\’ game with Westmont Hilltop will be rescheduled at a later date.
In the junior varsity game, the Clearfield underclassmen notched their first win, 10-0, in 4-1/2 innings.
Trevor Flanagan posted the shutout with a six-hitter, striking out two and walking one.
Andrew Redden, Chad Zurat and Will Beauseigner had two hits apiece. Redden and Zurat had doubles.
BROOKVILLE — 10
Joe Galbraith ss 2311, Gabe Wonderling cf 4113, Jeremy Aharrah lf 5223; Greg Sobol 1b 4132, Jacob Means 3b 4010, Nick Bishop 2b 4010, Justin Smith dh 2100, Michael Lindermuth rf 2000, Tyler Ferry p 4010, James Hecei p 0000, Shane Heschke c 3221, DJ Dennison cr 0000. TOTALS: 34 10 12 10.
CLEARFIELD — 7
Jarrin Campman 2b 4000, Aaron Sayers lf-p 4011, Tanner St. Clair dh 4221, Parker Herrington ss 4021, David Welker rf 4000, Derek Danver 3b 4110, Michael Moyer p 0100, Isaac Butler p 1110, Justin Hoffman ph-lf 2110, Corey Bookhamer 1b 2000, Chris Barr ph 1000, David Ryan cf 2123. TOTALS: 32 7 10 6.
Score by Innings
Brookville 203 203 0 – 10 12 2
Clearfield 111 202 0 – 7 10 1
Errors – Means; Campman, Lonjin. LOB – Brookville 5; Clearfield 6. 2B – Aharrah; St. Clair, Herrington. 3B – Heschke. HR – Wonderling, Aharrah, Sobol. SB – Sobol, Dennison.
Pitching
Brookville – Ferry 6 IP, 10 H, 7 R, 7 ER; 1 BB, 2 K; Hecei 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K.
Clearfield – Moyer 3-1/3 IP, 6 H, 7 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 4 K; Butler 2-2/3 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 K; Sayers 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 0 K.
HB – Ferry 1 (Moyer). WP – Ferry 1.
W – Ferry (2-0). L – Moyer (0-4).
