HYDE – Clearfield will enter the District 9 Class AAA Baseball Playoffs going in the right direction.
The Bisons mustered only three hits against Altoona Thursday afternoon at the Bison Sports Complex, but Tanner St. Clair\’s two-run homer and Jarrin Campman\’s run-scoring double highlighted a five-run third inning that was just enough support for Michael Moyer, who pitched a six-hitter.
In what might turn out to be a footnote game in Central Penn League history, the Bisons hung on for a 5-4 victory to close the regular season 6-14 after starting out 0-9.
The future of the sprawling league that one year ago produced nine district finalists and two state champions – Punxsutawney in Class AAA and Bald Eagle Area in Class AA – is up in the air with the formation of an all-sports league for District 6 Class AAA and Class AA schools and a baseball league for District 9\’s bigger schools in 2009.
If scheduling conflicts and rising travel expenses doom the circuit that had 14 teams in 2007, two more than this season, Clearfield would go down as the winner of the CPL\’s final game.
The Bisons averted a last-place finish at 2-9 and relegated the Mountain Lions to the basement with their 0-10-1 record in a game that had been postponed three times.
Clearfield coach Sid Lansberry was thinking more about next Thursday\’s trip to St. Marys for the District 9 Class AAA semifinal game when he said, \”It\’s great to get a little momentum. It\’s been a long, tough year, and these guys have not had a lot of luck. We\’ve been snake-bit, and we haven\’t played well at times, but it\’s good to hang on and win a close game like that.\”
Moyer\’s pitching enabled the Bisons to prevail in spite of their lack of hitting and being guilty of six errors.
The junior right-hander struck out nine and walked one en route to his third win and his fourth complete game in 10 starts.
\”The (Matt) Gehret kid came in, threw hard and shut us down, but Moyer was tough today,\” Lansberry said. \”He pitched his best game of the year, in my opinion. He had some key strikeouts.\”
Moyer sent Mountain Lion batters back to the dugout five times with runners in scoring position.
Only one of Altoona\’s runs was earned, that coming in the third inning when Chris Perry rammed a double to the left center gap and scored on Mason Hershey\’s groundout.
The 1-0 lead was short-lived.
Andy Smithmyer walked Moyer and David Ryan with one out in the bottom of the frame, and Campman belted his two-bagger to the fence in left center for the tying run.
A throwing error on Parker Herrington\’s grounder gave the Bisons two runs, and St. Clair punctuated the rally with his fourth homer of the season, a laser to left center.
When Derek Danver followed with a single, Gehret replaced Smithmyer and went on to hold the Bisons scoreless and hitless for 3-2/3 innings while fanning seven. He did issue three walks and hit one Bison.
Altoona, which finished 2-14-1, picked up a pair of tainted runs in the fourth, making it a 5-3 game. Two of Clearfield\’s three miscues figured in the scoring, Josh Weyandt lining a single to center and Perry grounding out for the RBIs.
A hit and an error put Mountain Lions at the corners in the fifth, but their double steal attempt was only partially successful. Bison catcher Matt Lonjin gunned down courtesy runner Ricky McPhee at second as Keith Kawtoski dashed to the plate.
Then, Moyer slammed the door shut on the Mountain Lions, who did have the tying run at second with one out in the seventh. He injected five strikeouts into the final eight outs.
After losing its last two CPL games to finish 9-2, Lewistown still wound up 2008 champion when Williamsport (8-3) was tumbled 5-4 by Philipsburg-Osceola and Bald Eagle Area (7-3-1) was upended 5-2 by Hollidaysburg on Wednesday.
ALTOONA — 4
Jordan Becker cf 3010, Keith Kawtoski lf 3110, Mason Hershey c 40001, Ryan Harshbarger 1b 3000, Josh Adams ph 1000, Mason Stevens 3b 3010, Andy Smithmyer p-ss 2100, Matt Gehret rf-p 3110, Josh Weyandt ss-rf 3011, Chris Perry 2b 3111. TOTALS: 28 4 6 3.
CLEARFIELD — 5
Jarrin Campman 3111, Parker Herrington ss 4101, Tanner St. Clair lf 3112, Derek Danver 3b 3010, David Welker rf 3000, Chris Barr dh 1000, Isaac Butler ph 1000, Matt Lonjin c 0000, Corey Bookhamer 1b 3000, Michael Moyer p 1100, David Ryan cf 1100. TOTALS: 23 5 3 4.
Score by Innings
Altoona 001 210 0 – 4 6 2
Clearfield 005 000 x – 5 3 6
Errors – Stevens, Weyandt; Herrington 2, Danver 2, Ryan 2. LOB – Altoona 6; Clearfield 6. 2B – Perry; Campman. HR – St. Clair (4). Sac – Kawtoski, Smithmyer. SB – Becker, Kawtoski; Herrington, Ryan.
Pitching
Altoona – Smithmyer 2-1/3 IP, 3 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K; Gehret 3-2/3 IP, 01 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 7 K.
Clearfield – Moyer 7 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 9 K.
HB – Gehret 1 (Barr). WP – Gehret 3.
W – Moyer (3-7). L – Smithmyer.
Umpires – Jeff Aveni (home); Sam Bevak (bases).
