BROOKVILLE – Its 0-2 start in the first year of the District 9 Northern Allegany League a distant memory, the Clearfield Area High School baseball team clinched at least a share of the Big School Division championship with an 11-1 win over Brookville at McKinley Field Wednesday afternoon.
Coach Sid Lansberry\’s Bisons, 10-6 after their eighth win in nine games, can claim sole possession of the title trophy if they beat St. Marys in a home make-up game Thursday at 4:00 p.m.
A loss would drop them to 7-3 and into a tie with DuBois and Punxsutawney.
Backed by a balanced 13-hit attack and flawless defense, sophomore right-hander Trevor Flanagan did his part to assure the Bisons would finish their amazing three-week run to the top of the D9NAL.
He silenced the Raiders on three hits, one a fourth-inning home run by Jared Heschke that cost him a shutout.
His third win without a loss was spiced by eight strikeouts. He walked only two Raiders.
\”He didn\’t even go to a full count on many batters,\” Lansberry noted. \”His strike-to-ball ratio was really good. It easily was two-to-one.\”
Not bad for a pitcher who was far down the anticipated depth chart at the outset of the season.
\”Trevor has been a pleasant surprise,\” Lansberry said. \”We were gonna keep him up on varsity. If he wasn\’t getting many innings, we were going to move him down to pitch for the jayvees. As it turned out, we kept him up because of injuries, and it\’s worked out for us.\”
Everything changed for Flanagan when ace Michael Moyer (knee) joined Isaac Butler (shoulder) on the injury list a little over two weeks ago.
Those two, Corey Bookhamer, Aaron Sayers and closer Parker Herrington figured to get the bulk of the work on the mound this spring.
When given his opportunity, Flanagan responded by keeping the Bisons in games against the hard-hitting DuBois and St. Marys lineups before going the route against Brookville (4-13, 2-8 D9NAL).
\”We were prepared to use as many pitchers as we needed to win that game,\” Lansberry proclaimed. \”When you get seven innings out of one pitcher, that\’s a pretty big boost.\”
All of the Bisons contributed to this win, though, especially at the plate.
Every starter had a hit and eight scored.
Jarrin Campman and Tanner St. Clair provided the firepower at the top of the lineup.
Each had two hits, including a home run, and drove in four runs.
Campman, who also scored three times, is 11-for-16 with eight RBIs and nine runs scored in the last four games.
Sayers and Kyle Timchak had two hits apiece, too.
\”We hit the ball well with people in scoring position, which is why we\’ve been winning,\” Lansberry said. \”It\’s something we weren\’t doing earlier. Hopefully, we can continue to do that.\”
The Bisons didn\’t need a hit for their first run.
A walk and stolen base by Campman, a sacrifice bunt by Parker Herrington and a sacrifice fly by St. Clair got them on the scoreboard.
In the second inning, Sayers doubled to left for an RBI and came around on Campman\’s single to make it 3-0.
Clearfield widened the lead to 8-0 in the fourth, Campman\’s homer accounting for three runs.
\”All of a sudden you\’re up by six with one blow,\” Lansberry said. \”We definitely took some momentum on that one swing. Then, Tanner comes up and does it again.\”
After St. Clair pounded his solo homer, singles by Bookhamer, Justin Hoffman and Sayers produced another marker.
Herrington drove in a run with a triple in the fifth, and St. Clair tacked on a two-run single in the seventh.
\”It\’s a big win\” Lansberry said. \”A few weeks ago we wouldn\’t have thought we would be contending for the league title. Now, we have at least a tie for it.\”
Shane Harper had three hits and Justyn Knepp chipped in with a pair as the Clearfield junior varsity improved to 7-6 with a 13-3 victory.
Tanner Ogden was the winning pitcher, and Curtis Frye scored four runs.
CLEARFIELD — 11
Jarrin Campman 2b 3324, Parker Herrington ss 4011, Tanner St. Clair lf 4124, Jason Bowman lf 0000, Corey Bookhamer 1b 5110, Justin Hoffman rf 3110, Wil Beauseigneur rf 0000, Aaron Sayers cf 3122, Chad Zurat cf 0000, Derek Danver 3b 4110, Trevor Flanagan p 0000, Kyle Timchak dh 3120, Matt Lonjin c 2210. TOTALS: 31 11 13 11.
BROOKVILLE — 1
Nick Bishop 2b-p 3010, Ryan Zimmerman p-rf 3000, Jared Heschke 3b-1b 2121, Dustin Dombrowski ss 2000, Patrick Vroman ss 1000, Ethan Harmon c 2000, Taylor Songer dh 2000, C.J. Beitz 1b 1000, Dakota Singleton 3b 1000, Chad Brocious lf 2000, Chase Lyle ph 1000, Garrett Weaver rf-cf 3000, Cayliff Worling cf-2b 2000. TOTALS: 25 1 3 1.
Score by Innings
Clearfield 120 510 2 – 11 13 0
Brookville 000 100 0 – 1 3 3
Errors – Zimmerman, Beitz, Worling. PB – Dombrowski 1. LOB – Clearfield 7; Brookville 4. 2B – Sayers. 3B – Herrington. HR – Campman (2), St. Clair (2); Heschke. Sac – Herrington, Timchak. SF – St. Clair. SB – Campman, Zurat; Heschke.
Pitching
Clearfield – Flanagan 7 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K.
Brookville – Zimmerman 4 IP, 8 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 4 BB, 2 K; Bishop 3 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K.
W – Flanagan (3-0). L – Zimmerman (1-3).
