HYDE – Matt Lonjin scored on Tanner St. Clair\’s one-out fly ball to center field in the eighth inning to give Clearfield a 5-4 win over St. Marys in their District 9 Class AAA baseball semi-final showdown at the Bison Sports Complex Wednesday afternoon.
The second-seeded Bisons will meet No. 1 seed Punxsutawney (13-5) in the championship game Wednesday at a site and time to be determined.
It was no surprise the rubber game of the season series between the District 9 Northern Alleghany League Big School Division and Central Penn League rivals was a close won.
Clearfield (11-8) won 5-3 at St. Marys (9-10) on May 6, but the Flying Dutch prevailed 6-4 in an eight-inning nail-biter at the Bison Sports Complex last Thursday to deny the Bisons outright possession of the D9NAL crown.
\”There can\’t be two more evenly matched teams,\” longtime Clearfield coach Sid Lansberry said. \”All three games were tight the whole way through. This game was similar to the other night, but the result was different.\”
That was because pitchers Corey Bookhamer and Parker Herrington kept the Flying Dutch bats quiet, surrendering only three singles.
\”That was the biggest surprise,\” Lansberry said. \”To hold them to three hits is a great job by Bookie and Parker, because that\’s a good hitting lineup.\”
Bookhamer turned in a quality start, allowing only three hits and one earned run while striking out five and walking two in five-plus innings.
Very few high school teams have the luxury of a true closer, but Herrington has become one in his senior season, though it\’s almost certain he\’ll give the Clearfield coaches and fans some anxious moments getting into and working out of jams.
The hard-throwing right-hander held the Flying Dutch hitless and scoreless for three innings to pick up his second victory, pitching out of a bases-loaded situation in the seventh and stranding the leadoff batter, and potential winning run, at second in the eighth.
\”It\’s unusual for a high school team to have a dependable kid to put in there as a closer, but Herrington kind of developed into that role,\” Lansberry said, quickly adding, \”And he\’s done a good job.\”
Both teams posted crooked numbers in the first two frames.
A good play by Clearfield right fielder Justin Hoffman prevented St. Marys from possibly grabbing a big lead in the first.
A walk, a passed ball and a throwing error on a third strike put Flying Dutch runners at the corners for the dangerous Brett Quiggle, but he wound up with just a sacrifice fly when Hoffman ran down his drive to deep right.
\”That was a key play, because they would have had two runs in and Quiggle on second, or maybe third, with nobody out,\” Lansberry said. \”It could have been a big inning for them.\”
The Bisons answered with two unearned runs off Derek Meyer, who hit Herrington after Jarrin Campman reached base on an error. St. Clair sacrificed them into scoring position, and a single by Bookhamer and a grounder by Hoffman got them home.
Jordan Weinzerl\’s RBI-single in the top of the second tied the score, but designated hitter Kyle Timchak bounced a two-out double over the left field fence and Lonjin doubled down the left field line to put the Bisons ahead again, 3-2.
\”Every run is critical, phsychologically, in a game like this, and that one was because it kept them behind,\” Lansberry said.
Clearfield tacked on another run in the fifth. Aaron Sayers singled, advancing Hoffman from first to third base with two outs, and then beat the throw to second on Derek Danver\’s grounder to allow his teammate to score.
That proved to be a big run when the Flying Dutch tallied two runs in the sixth.
After Quiggle led off with a drive down the right field line that Hoffman held to a single, St. Marys coach Tony Azzato surprised the Bisons by having Josh Schlimm bunt, and nobody was at first base for Danver\’s throw.
\”We didn\’t have bunt coverage on, because I didn\’t think they\’d bunt in that situation, down two runs with their fastest guy on first and the clean-up hitter up,\” Lansberry said. \”We didn\’t adjust, so they had runners on second and third with nobody out.\”
Lansberry made the switch to Herrington, and he almost saved the victory for Bookhamer. He gave up an RBI-groundout to Mitchell Straub and would have escaped with no further damage except Meyer\’s two-out fly ball to the sun field in left was mishandled.
\”When they tied it up after being down two runs, I was worried,\” Lansberry said.
Herrington frustrated the visitors by inducing a pop-up with the bases filled in the seventh and then holding Meyer at second after he reached there on an error in the eighth.
A strikeout, a groundout and a wind-blown foul pop on which Bookhamer made a difficult, diving grab got the Bisons off the field.
Quiggle, who handcuffed the Bisons for two innings to get the win Thursday, relieved Meyer and notched a quick strikeout before walking Lonjin on a full count.
A throwing error on Campman\’s grounder sent Lonjin to third, prompting an intentional walk to Herrington to set up a force at home on a grounder.
St. Clair foiled that strategy with what Lansberry termed a very good at-bat. The senior fouled off two full-count offerings before hoisting his sacrifice fly to center to chase home Lonjin with the winning run.
\”That\’s a big win,\” Lansberry said. \”It\’s great to make the finals seeing how the season started out for us. We had a pretty good turnaround to get a chance at the district championship.
\”At least we\’re at the doorstep. To be in this position is a significant achievement for these kids.\”
Bookhamer and Campman accounted for half of Clearfield\’s 10 hits off Meyer, who gave up only two earned runs in a strong seven-inning effort.
Bookhamer had three, one a double
ST. MARYS –4
Ryan Quinn cf 3100, Dillon Kline 2b 4000, Eric Merritt pr 0000, Brett Quiggle c-p 2111, Josh Schlimm 3b 2100, Mitchell Straub lf 4001, Derek Meyer p-1b 3100, Shealin Mulcahy 1b 0000, Jess Cogan c 0000, Erik Dauber dh 4000, Jordan Weinzerl ss 4021, Luke Nicklas rf 4000. TOTALS: 30 4 3 3.
CLEARFIELD — 5
Jarrin Campman 2b 5120, Parker Herrington ss-p 3100, Tanner St. Clair lf-3b 2001, Corey Bookhamer p-1b 4031, Andrew Redden pr 0000, Justin Hoffman rf 3111, Aaron Sayers cf 4010, Derek Danver 3b-ss 4001, Trevor Flanagan 1b 0000, Chad Zurat lf 0000, Kyle Timchak dh 4120, Matt Lonjin c 3111. TOTALS: 32 5 10 5.
Score by Innings
St. Marys 110 002 00 – 4 3 2
Clearfield 210 010 01 – 5 10 6
Errors – Meyer, Weinzerl; Campman, St. Clair 2, Danver, Zurat, Lonjin. PB – Lonjin 1. DP – Clearfield (Campman and Flanagan). LOB – St. Marys 6; Clearfield 10. 2B – Bookhamer, Timchak, Lonjin. Sac – Schlimm; St. Clair. SF – Quiggle; St. Clair. CS – Campman (by Quiggle).
Pitching
St. Marys – D. Meyer 7 IP, 10 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 3 K; Quiggle 2/3 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 K.
Clearfield – Bookhamer 5+IP (faced 2 batters in 6th), 10 H, 4 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K; Herrington 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 K.
HB – Meyer 1 (Herrington); Herrington 1 (Schlimm). WP – Bookhamer 1.
W – Herrington (2-1). L – Quiggle (1-1).
