ALTOONA – For the second time in five days, the Clearfield Area High School baseball team left the opposition and their fans wondering how the Bisons possibly could have reached mid-season without a win by stunning Hollidaysburg 6-3 Friday afternoon at the Blair County Ballpark in the quarterfinal round of the sixth annual Dean Patterson Curve Classic.
The Bisons, just as they did at St. Marys Monday, came from behind to prevail with a gutsy, determined pitching effort, junior Corey Bookhamer going the distance for his first varsity win, great defense and opportunistic offense in a game that also counted in the Central Penn League.
It\’s the formula coach Sid Lansberry proclaimed in pre-season almost would be a must for his squad to achieve success.
\”We knew it would take a while for this team to come together, and it\’s finally happening,\” he said. \”It takes a while for a young team to mature. It took a little longer than expected. Hopefully, we can keep it going.
\”This is a big win for us, probably the biggest in several years, I would say.\”
Taming the Golden Tigers (5-5, 3-5 CPL) moves the Bisons (2-9, 1-5) into the semifinals against Central Cambria (7-4) Saturday at 3 p.m. Two Red Devil hurlers held Bishop Carroll (1-9) to one hit, that coming in the fifth in the fifth inning, for an 11-0 shutout in a meeting of two Ebensburg schools.
In the other half of the bracket, Punxsutawney (7-2) posted a 5-0 shutout against Altoona (1-6-1) after Central (5-6) emerged from a nine-inning marathon with a 14-13 victory over Bishop Walsh (8-8) of Cumberland, Md.
Bookhamer, making his fourth start and seventh appearance on the hill, pitched the game of his brief varsity career to keep the Bisons in the hunt for a berth in Sunday\’s 1 p.m. championship contest.
The lefthander kept all of the Golden Tigers except Aaron Kovach off balance most of the way, allowing only two hits over the last four innings to finish with a six-hitter. He struck out three and walked three.
\”It was a heck of an effort,\” Lansberry said. \”He doesn\’t have an overpowering fastball, but he changed speeds and got the big outs when he had to. He picked a kid off first. He kept his composure. He did everything you need to do today.\”
Bookhamer\’s second complete game was in jeopardy in the early going.
Hollidaysburg pecked away to build a 3-0 lead after three innings, with Kovach socking a triple to deep right center for an RBI in the first and lashing a three-bagger to left and scoring on Patrick Smith\’s sacrifice fly in the third. The Golden Tiger third baseman pounded a double to right center in his third at-bat.
Jordan Roberts\’ double down the left field line and Sidd Amirneni\’s two-out liner to right produced the second Hollidaysburg run.
Clearfield got back into the game with a pair of runs in the fourth.
Parker Herrington walked and, with two outs, David Welker singled. An error on Derek Danver\’s grounder got the Bisons on the scoreboard. Justin Hoffman, running for Welker, ended up at third and scored on a wild pitch.
In the sixth, Hoffman grounded a single to right, advanced on Smith\’s third wild pitch and easily scored the tying run when Danver drilled a long double to left center.
Golden Tiger ace Smith, whose 3-0 record included a 2-0 no-hitter against Forest Hills on March 31 and a 3-0 shutout against Punxsy on April 8, was relieved by No. 2 starter Andrew Ford.
A wild pitch and a passed ball on ball four to pinch-hitter Isaac Butler gave Clearfield the game-winning run.
Then, Chris Barr drew a walk in a pinch-hitting role, and Jarrin Campman kept the inning alive by beating out a grounder to the right side. One out later, Tanner St. Clair\’s swinging bunt down the third base line made it 5-3.
\”We didn\’t waste many opportunities,\” Lansberry said. \”We got some breaks, too.\”
The Bisons got a big insurance run in the seventh on a walk, a wild pitch and a Golden Tiger throwing error, courtesy runner Kyle Timchak scoring.
\”That extra run meant a lot,\” Lansberry said. \”Timchak did a good job moving up. Otherwise, he doesn\’t score. When you\’re down two with two guys on in the last inning, it\’s a little bit different.\”
After St. Clair dove for a webgem grab of pinch-hitter Tyler Sell\’s sinking liner to left center, the Golden Tigers threatened when Derek Coppersmith singled and Amirneni walked.
Lansberry still had a lot of confidence in Bookhamer when he came out of the dugout to make a point with his infielders.
\”The sixth was a good inning for him, and we thought he could finish then,\” Lansberry explained. \”The seventh inning, he said he was fine.
\”What I did there was remind everybody those guys on base meant nothing and to concentrate on the hitters. Let them run around and score. It doesn\’t matter. You don\’t want to be out of position trying to hold a runner and have a base hit get through.\”
Bookhamer retired Neil Schroth on a fly to right and Matt Taylor on a liner to center, much to the delight of the Bisons families and fans who made the trip.
In addition to St. Clair\’s grab, the Bisons had two dandy stops by shortstop Herrington, one when he ranged far to his left to make a spectacular play on a grounder headed for center field, and a heads-up sparkler by second baseman Campman in the fifth inning of their first errorless game of the season.
After coming off first base to catch an off-target throw, Michael Moyer tried to making a swiping tag, but Amirneni knocked the ball out of his glove. As he spun around, the ball popped into the air, and Campman alertly grabbed it and tagged Amirneni, who had missed first base.
\”That\’s just baseball awareness, I call it,\” Lansberry said. \”He really had no reason to be over there. Most guys would stand there and watch.\”
Beating a team with two pitchers firing in the mid-80s might have seemed highly improbable for the Bisons a week ago.
But they\’ve look like an entirely different team now, one their first nine opponents probably wouldn\’t recognize.
CLEARFIELD — 6
Jarrin Campman 2b 4020, Parker Herrington ss 3100, Tanner St. Clair lf 4011, Aaron Sayers dh 4000, Matt Lonjin c 0000, David Welker rf 2010, Justin Hoffman pr-rf 2210, Derek Danver 3b 4111, Corey Bookhamer p 2110, Michael Moyer 1b 2100, Isaac Butler ph 0000, David Ryan cf 3000, Chris Barr ph 0000. TOTALS: 30 6 7 2.
HOLLIDAYSBURG — 3
Neil Schroth 2b 4000, Matt Taylor cf 3100, Aaron Kovach 3b 3131; Patrick Smith p 1001, Andy Glass ss 1000, Andrew Ford ss-p 3000, Jordan Roberts 1b 3110, Jake Ottaway rf 1000, Tyler Sell pr 1000, Derek Coppersmith c 3010, Sidd Amirneni dh 2011, Jake Weibley lf 0000. TOTALS: 25 3 6 2.
Score by Innings
Clearfield 000 203 1 – 6 7 0
Hollidaysburg 111 000 0 – 3 6 3
Errors – Schroth, Glass, Ford. PB – Coppersmith 3. LOB – Clearfield 9; Hollidaysburg 5. 2B – Danver; Kovach, Roberts; 3B – Kovach 2. SF – Smith. SB – Campman.
Pitching
Clearfield – Bookhamer 7 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER; 3 BB, 3 K.
Hollidaysburg – Smith 5+ IP (faced 2 batters in 6th), 5 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 6 K, 3 BB; Ford 2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 4 K, 3 BB.
WP – Smith 3; Ford 2.
W – Bookhamer (1-2). L – Smith (3-1).
Umpires – Jim Klausman (home), Joe Bidoli Jr. (bases).
