PHILIPSBURG – Trailing 2-1, the Philipsburg-Osceola Little League 11-and-12 All-Stars erupted for eight runs in the third inning and went on to pin a 13-2 loss on Clearfield in a District 5 Northern Tier winner\’s bracket semifinal Saturday evening.
Both teams will play again Monday, Clearfield at home against Milesburg in an elimination bracket quarterfinal and P-O at Snow Shoe against Mountain Top in the winner\’s bracket final.
Christian Lezzer homered to right field in the first inning and Kelton Rishel singled home Trey Jordan in the second for Clearfield (1-1), the home team via the coin toss.
However, P-O (2-0) capitalized on a two-out error in the top of the third, with all eight runs unearned.
Eric Burge capped the big rally with a three-run homer. P-O\’s leadoff batter also had three singles in pacing a 13-hit attack.
Tanner Wilson added a pair of safeties, and Aaron Mason socked a triple.
Clearfield was limited to four hits by Travis Arnold, who struck out eight and walked three.
Matt Kushner, the first of four Clearfield pitchers, took the loss.
PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA — 13
Eric Burge c 5143, Travis Arnold p 4110, Bobby Oeler 1b 4112, Luther Harlow ss 3210, Cody Ammerman cf 4110, Tanner Lamb rf 1100, Caleb Pepperday rf 2111, Nick Gray 3b 2111, Curtis Matsko 3b 2000, Tanner Wilson 2b 2120, Lewis Jones 2b 1111, Aaron Mason lf 2110, Christopher Thompson lf 2111. TOTALS: 34 13 13 9.
CLEARFIELD — 2
Matt Kushner p-2b 3000, Wyatt Weston 2b-p-3b-ss 2010, Christian Lezzer ss-1b-cf 3111, Derek Hryn 1b-3b-p-1b 3000, Trey Jordan rf-c 2110, Seth Ford 3b 1000, Hunter Keith 1b 1000, Kelton Rishel c-rf-p 2011, Curtis Collins cf 1000, Andy Brown cf-rf 1000, Jack Soult lf 1000, Christian Gidney lf 1000. TOTALS: 21 2 4 2.
Score by Innings
P-O 018 004 – 13 13 0
Clearfield 110 000 – 2 4 3
Errors – Weston 2, Lezzer. LOB – P-O 5; Clearfield 2. 3B – Mason. HR – Burge; Lezzer.
Pitching
P-O – Arnold 6 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 8 K.
Clearfield – Kushner 4+ IP, 6 H, 9 R, 3 BB, 3 K; Weston 2/3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K; Hryn 1 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K; Rishel 1/3 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 0 K.
HP – Kushner 1 (Harlow).
W – Arnold (1-0). L – Kushner (0-1).
