Surprising Bisons Win Dean Patterson Curve Classic

ALTOONA – Unbelievable.

 

One week ago, the Clearfield Area High School baseball team still was searching for its first win of the season.

 

Sunday evening at the Blair County Ballpark, home of the Altoona Curve, the Bisons celebrated an amazing three-game championship run through the sixth annual Dean Patterson Curve Classic after outlasting Central in a 10-9 thriller.

 

Coach Sid Lansberry\’s resurgent squad, which rallied to jolt Central Penn League rival Hollidaysburg 6-3 Friday, had to survive a 2-1 nail-biter against Central Cambria Sunday morning just to make the title game.

 

Lansberry was very happy when the Bisons held on against Central Cambria behind Michael Moyer\’s pitching in the completion of the semifinal that was suspended Saturday because of a thunderstorm.

 

Mirroring his players and the Clearfield parents and fans, he was ecstatic after the Bisons punctuated their Cinderella effort for a well-earned and well-deserved championship.

 

\”This is great,\” he said. \”I feel great for the kids.

 

\”They\’ve had a real struggle this season. We blew some close games late, and these guys were feeling down. So, this is really a tribute to them, the fact that they didn\’t quit and were able to come back and play good baseball. Playing on this field was a big plus.

 

\”It\’s been a great experience. They\’ve been excited ever since I told them back in the winter that were going to it. They\’ve been talking about it all year and wanted to come in and play well.\”

 

The Bisons did just that in all three games against teams with winning records.

 

Lansberry summed it up succinctly, \”Good defense, timely hitting and good pitching.\”

 

Clearfield, which committed only one error and continually came up with big plays in the field, got complete-game mound performances from Corey Bookhamer and Moyer to reach the finals and then had starter Aaron Sayers and Herrington come through after pitching only a combined eight innings all season.

 

Tanner St. Clair, who was named the tourney\’s Most Valuable Player after lacing three hits and driving in three runs in the championship game, Derek Danver and David Welker keyed the offense with a dozen of the Bisons\’ 23 hits and half of the 20 runs batted in.

 

\”It\’s hard to single out anybody, though, because everybody contributed,\” Lansberry said.

 

One unsung hero would be catcher Matt Lonjin, whose only line in the boxscore is all zeroes because St. Clair DHed for him.

 

There\’s no statistic for smothering potential wild pitches and preventing runners from taking extra bases.

 

The undersized sophomore exhibited technique beyond his years to keep the ball in front of him numerous times and bail out his batterymates.

 

\”I can\’t say enough about him,\” Lansberry said. \”He\’s doing a great job behind the plate. Our pitchers throw a lot of curve balls in the dirt, a lot of offspeed stuff, and he stopped everything.

 

\”Coach (Don) Shimmel worked with the catchers in the pre-season, and the position was wide open. Matt won it and has been doing a great job behind the plate for a sophomore in his first year playing varsity. If we had to give a gold glove, it definitely would be Lonjin.\”

 

Against Central Cambria (7-5), Clearfield escaped with a win in spite of stranding 11 runners, eight in the first three innings when loser Shane McGregor, on three occasions, wiggled out of bases-loaded, one-out jams with strikeouts.

 

\”If we had lost the game, that would have been the reason,\” Lansberry said. \”But we hung on, made some good defensive plays, and Moyer got tougher as the game went on.\”

 

The junior right-hander, coming off a 9-4 complete-game win at St. Marys on Monday, was able to come back after pitching into the second inning Saturday and finish strong. He struck out eight, two of the biggest when the Red Devils threatened in the third and sixth innings, and walked three.

 

\”Coach (Bear) Stewart called a great game, and Michael pitched a great game. He located a lot better today than he had been earlier. So, this could be a turnaround week for him. We hope so.\”

 

All of the scoring came in the first inning, Danver and Welker delivering RBI-singles for the Bisons and Matt Cornetti\’s infield hit accounting for the Red Devil marker after Adam Petrosky led off with a double down the left field line.

 

Pitching and defense dominated the final 5-1/2 innings Sunday morning. Moyer wound up facing just three batters over the minimum, thanks to including a pickoff and a double play.

 

\”I think the rain helped us, because I don\’t think we were particularly sharp (Saturday),\” Lansberry said. \”We made two or three mental mistakes. Today, we came out with a different attitude.\”

 

That carried over into the championship game. The Bisons got three-plus good innings from Sayers and a gutsy closing job from Herrington.

 

Down 1-0, Clearfield erupted for a season-high eight runs in the third inning, highlighted by pairs of hits and RBIs by St. Clair and Danver.

 

Herrington was hit by a pitch and raced around the sacks with the tying run when St. Clair tomahawked a high fast ball to deep left center for a double. Danver followed by walloping a triple to center, and the rally was on.

 

Run-scoring singles by  Welker, Sayers, St. Clair and Danver had run-scoring singles, a sacrifice fly by David Ryan and a throwing error on a pickoff attempt gave the Bisons what appeared to be a comfortable 8-1 cushion.

 

It wasn\’t enough against Central, which ousted Punxsutawney (7-3) 12-7 in the other semifinal.

 

The hard-hitting Scarlet Dragons (7-7) got to Sayers in the fourth inning.

 

Two walks around a single by Lucas Runk loaded the bases.

 

Lansberry turned to Isaac Butler, who, like Herrington, hadn\’t gone to the mound since early in the season. Pinch-hitters Wes Flaugh and Trent Forshey made it a game by knocking in three runs, and Tyler Nash really tightened it up with a two-run double to left center.

 

Jordan Snyder, the first Scarlet Dragon to face Herrington, looped a hit to right for an RBI that sliced the Bisons\’ lead to 8-7.

 

Central drew even in the fifth on Drew Ebersole\’s double and Clearfield\’s lone error of the tourney.

 

\”I was worried,\” Lansberry admitted, \”but when you\’re the home team, it\’s a big advantage. I said to the guys, \’We get to bat three more times. They get to bat two times. It\’s a tie score. We have the odds.\’

 

\”You don\’t want to be too confident in that situation, but I felt pretty good about our chances.\”

 

The Bisons didn\’t wait long to regain the upper hand.

 

After fouling off four 3-2 pitches, Jarrin Campman reached base for the eighth time in the tourney when he was plunked by loser Jared Baird, a freshman southpaw who was the third Central pitcher.

 

St. Clair made Herrington\’s sacrifice bunt pay off when he drilled a single up the middle for the go-ahead run. Danver, a freshman injected into the cleanup spot in the lineup, lined a single to left.

 

With runners on the corners, Welker popped a fly to short right. Charging Jon Ewart was unable to make the catch, but he quickly retrieved the ball and forced Danver at second. St. Clair scored on the play, though, and that proved to be the deciding run when the Scarlet Dragons made a bid to pull it out in the top of the seventh.

 

A walk and one-out singles by Runk and Ryan Neil loaded the bases. Pinch-hitter Jacob Russell\’s sacrifice fly set up a tremendous two-out battle between Herrington and Jared Snowberger.

 

Central\’s No. 9 batter just missed a game-changing hit when his slicing liner to right fell in foul territory and then fouled off three consecutive 3-2 offerings, including another that sliced foul deep down the right field line.

 

On the 10th pitch of the at-bat, Herrington froze Snowberger for a called third strike.

 

Game over. Time for the Bisons to toss gloves and caps and leap into the air and into each other\’s arms, ending up in a pile of bodies in front of the first-base dugout.

 

\”Sayers gave us what we wanted, and Herrington did a great job with the bases loaded and one out and everything on the line,\” Lansberry said much later. \”It was only his second appearance. In Butler\’s defense, he\’s really been inactive for about three weeks with a shoulder problem. So, both of those guys have not had much of a chance to throw lately.\”

 

Lansberry cited the well-manicured BCB surface as a big reason for Clearfield\’s showing.

 

\”A good field like this brings out the best in teams,\” he said. \”I knew we would play well. I didn\’t know if we\’d play this well. I\’m real pleased.\”

 

The Bisons return to Central Penn League play Tuesday with a home game against Williamsport. They go to Bellefonte Friday.

 

 

 

Jon Ewart rf 4010, Tyler Nash 1b 3222, Jordan Saylor ss 4021, Tyler Simpson dh 3000, Eric Keefer pr 0100, C.J. Gahagan p 0000, Marcus Morgan p 0000, Jared Baird p 0000, Drew Ebersole 3b 3210, Lucas Runk lf 4120, Ryan Neil c 3110, Ryan Slagenweit cf 2100, Wes Flaugh ph 1012, Jacob Russell ph 0001, Jared Snowberger 2b 1000, Trent Forshey ph-2b 1111.  TOTALS: 29 9 11 7.

 

 

Jarrin Campman 2b 1200, Parker Herrington ss-p 1200, Tanner St. Clair dh 4233, Matt Lonjin c 0000, Derek Danver 3b-ss 4132, David Welker rf 4112, Justin Hoffman lf-3b 2110, Corey Bookhamer 1b 3000, Aaron Sayers p-lf 2111, Isaac Butler p-lf 1000, David Ryan cf 1001, Chris Barr ph 1000.  TOTALS: 24 19 9.

 

 

Central     100 610 1 –   9 11 1

Clearfield   008 020 x – 10  9 1

 

Errors – Morgan; Bookhamer. DP – Clearfield 1 (Herrington, Campman and Bookhamer). LOB – Central 6; Clearfield 8. 2B – Nash 2, Ebersole; St. Clair. 3B – Danver. Sac – Herrington, Bookhamer. SF – Russell; Ryan. SB – Snowberger, Forshey; Campman 2.

 

 

Central – Gahagan 2+ IP (Faced 5 batters in 2nd) 3 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 4 BB, 3 K; Morgan 1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 0 K; Baird 3 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER; 1 BB, 1 K.

Clearfield – Sayers 3-1/3 IP 3 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 1 K; Butler 1/3 IP 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 0 K; Herrington 3-1/3 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K.

HB – Gahagan 2 (Herrington, Hoffman). WP – Gahagan 1; Herrington 1.

W – Herrington (1-1). L – Baird.

 

 

 

 

Campman 2B 4010, Herrington ss 3120, St. Clair lf 3100, Danver 3b 4011, Sayers dh 4000, Lonjin c 0000, Welker rf 4011, Bookhamer 1b 4010, Michael Moyer p 3010, Ryan cf 1000, Butler ph 1000.  TOTALS: 31 2 7 2.

 

 

Adam Petrosky lf 3110, Drew Klezek 2b 3000, Matt Cornetti c 3011, Shane McGregor p-ss 3010, Eric Nalisnick dh-p 3010, Billy Kyper ss 0000, Luke Trotz 1b 2000, Jeff Wasilewski cf 3000, Dom DeYulis 2b 2000, Mario DeYulis rf 2000.  TOTALS: 24 1 5 1.

 

 

Clearfield               200 000 0 – 2 7 0

Central Cambria      100 000 0 – 1 5 3

 

Errors – McGregor, Kyper, Trotz. DP – Clearfield 1 (Campman, Herrington and Bookhamer). LOB – Clearfield 11; Central Cambria 4. 2B – Petrosky, Nalisnick. SB – Campman 2, Herrington, Welker.

 

 

Clearfield – Moyer 7 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K.

Central Cambria – McGregor 5 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K; Nalisnick 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K.

WP – Moyer 1.

W – Moyer (2-5). L – McGregor.