HYDE – Many high school teams are forced to rebuild after losing a large number of letterwinners.
Some just reload, which seems to be the case with the 2008 State College baseball squad.
The Clearfield Bisons certainly will agree after being tagged with a 14-4 setback in Central Penn League action at the Bison Sports Complex Tuesday afternoon.
The Little Lions, who lost 10 lettermen from a team that won the CPL championship and advanced to the PIAA Class AAAA semifinals, turned on the firepower against a trio of Bison right-handers with six of their 17 hits going for extra bases.
\”They don\’t have a bad bat in the lineup,\” Clearfield coach Sid Lansberry said. \”They\’ve got nine good hitters on the field all the time. And you\’ve got to figure they\’re all decent athletes. They get 80 to 100 kids out for baseball, and they keep the cream of the crop.
\”We didn\’t make that many mistakes. They just hit the heck out of the ball, which you have to expect from State College. They hit a lot of gap shots and hard ground balls that got through (the infield). There\’s not much you can do about that.\”
Still, the Bisons were in the game after four innings, David Ryan\’s opposite-field RBI-double to deep left and Jarrin Campman\’s sacrifice fly cutting the Little Lions\’ lead to 7-4.
It was 11-4 a few minutes later as 7-8-9 batters Jeff Moyer, Justin O\’Brien and Doug Sallade singled to load the bases, the latter beating out a surprise one-out bunt.
State College got a gift run on the catch-and-carry rule when Clearfield third baseman Derek Danver stepped out of play after hauling in a foul fly, two runs on Scott Glass\’ double to the fence in left and a fourth on Joe Smith\’s ringing shot to left center.
Smith was the first of nine pinch-hitters for the Little Lions, seven getting the call in their three-run seventh. Devin Fiorante singled across two runs and Matt Crust picked up a ribbie with a forceout.
\”We kind of lost focus toward the end of the game,\” Lansberry said. \”I thought we lost a little concentration, and we didn\’t play as well. It\’s tough when you get down that far. Against a team like that, you\’re not going to get much.\”
Matt Blaschak blanked the Bisons on one hit over the last three innings to save Pryor\’s fourth victory.
In the early going, Jose Texidor had an RBI-single and a solo homer and Glass a two-run single on his way to a four-RBI day. Glass, Smith, Matt Krider and starting pitcher Matt Pryor had two hits apiece.
Knocked out of the CPL race by narrow losses to front-running Lewistown (11-10) and runner-up Williamsport (1-0 in 8 innings), State College is 5-3 in the loop and 9-5 overall.
Parker Herrington singled twice and Danver doubled home a run in the first inning for Clearfield, 1-8 in the CPL and 5-12 for the season.
Starter Aaron Sayers took the loss.
Lansberry has not ruled out entering the Bisons in the District 9 Class AAA Playoffs, where they would be seeded behind St. Marys and Punxsutawney.
\”I said in the beginning it depends on what direction we\’re going at the end of the season,\” he explained. \”Monday is the deadline, so we\’ll see how we do on Thursday (at Huntingdon) and Monday (Altoona at home), and then we\’ll make a decision. I\’m not going to say we have to win both games. I want to see how we\’re playing.\”
STATE COLLEGE — 14
Ken Farnsworth cf 3210, Taylor Turrisi ph 1100, Scott Glass 2b 3224, Matt Godwin ph 1000, Jose Texidor 1b 3222, Joe Smith ph-1b 2121, Mike Krider ss 4022, Reid Vanderlinden ph 0100, Alex Hetrick c 3110, Devin Fioranti ph 1012, Will Pryor p-3b 4021, Matt Crust ph 1001, Jeff Moyer dh 4110, Miles Weaver ph 1010, Dan Sainberg 3b 0000, Ryan Blaschak 0000, Justin O\’Brien lf 3110, Chad Dreibelbis ph 1000, Doug Sallcdade rf 2210, Pat Melia ph 1000. TOTALS: 38 14 17 13.
CLEARFIELD — 4
Jarrin Campman 2b 3111, Parker Herrington ss 4120, Tanner St. Clair lf 4000, Derek Danver 3b 3011, Ben Kline 3b 0000, Aaron Sayers p 2000, Isaac Butler p-rf 1000, Justin Hoffman rf-p 3010, David Welker dh 1100, Chris Barr ph 0000, Matt Lonjin c 0000, Corey Bookhamer 1b 2110, Michael Moyer 1b 0000, David Ryan cf 2011. TOTALS: 26 4 7 3.
Score by Innings
State College 301 340 3 – 14 17 2
Clearfield 200 200 0 – 4 7 3
Errors – Farnsworth, Texidor; Campman, Danver 2. DP – State College 1 (Krider and Smith). LOB – State College 9; Clearfield 5. 2B – Farnsworth, Glass, Texidor, Smith, Krider; Danver, Ryan. HR – Texidor. SB – Glass. SF – Campman.
Pitching
State College – Pryor 4 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 2 K; Blaschak 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K.
Clearfield – Sayers 3-1/3 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 4 BB, 0 K; Butler 1-1/3 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 0 BB, 0 K; Hoffman 2-1/3 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K.
WP – Pryor 1; Sayers 3; Butler 1.
W – Pryor (4-2). L – Sayers (0-3). Save – Blaschak (2).
Umpires – Garry Shirey (home); Lynn Gilham (bases).
