CLEARFIELD – Jeff Potter penned the book “Whatever Happened to Baseball?” and then decided to promote the way the game used to be – and still could be – played by organizing a one-month tour for a 15-and-under team dubbed the Pirates.
The inaugural Potter Baseball Tour 2010 logo lists passion and respect for the game, hard work and selflessness along the baselines of a diamond.
Improving skills while having fun, developing new relationships and expanding horizons with side tours should make it a special summer for the 16 players from Pennsylvania and Maryland who will have traveled to more than a dozen different communities in the two states by the time the trail ends at Ellwood City July 24.
On Tuesday, the PBT coaches and players helped conduct a clinic for Clearfield area youths from 8 to 13 years of age at the Lawrence Township Recreation Park Field and later took on the Clearfield Babe Ruth League 13-15 All-Stars in the fifth game on their schedule.
The BRL Stars had more fun in this wood bat contest, though, tuning up for this weekend’s District 8 Tournament at Coudersport with an 8-5 win.
Mason Root and relievers Christian Lezzer and Coleman Kubala held the Pirates to four singles.
Lezzer, the winner, rang up seven Pirates on strikes, five of them looking, in his three-inning stint. He hit one batter, walked three and gave up three runs, two earned.
Root allowed just one hit and two earned runs over the first three innings, while Kubala picked up the save with a scoreless seventh, stranding runners at second and third with a strikeout, a foul pop and a fly to center.
Kurtis Krise of Bigler was the starter and loser for the Pirates but deserved a better fate. The right-hander, who was on the Clearfield Area High School staff as a freshman in the spring, surrendered two hits, four walks and five runs, all unearned.
The BRL Stars wiped out the PBT team’s two-run start with four runs in the first inning and then added singletons in their next four at-bats.
Dale Confer’s looping single to short right center was good for two RBIs and a 3-2 lead in the first.
Ben Panebianco singled in another run and had an RBI-groundout in the third.
Root also drove in two runs with a second-inning groundout and fourth-inning single.
Christian Flood’s infield single in the fifth ended the scoring.
Luke Murray had a two-run single in the top of the fifth for the PBT team, now 2-3.
Damon Matson of Brockway saw action as a pinch-hitter and outfielder.
EXTRA INNINGS – Longtime Clearfield radio personality Bob E. Day emceed the pre-game ceremonies, which included introduction of all players and coaches, the first pitch by Clearfield mayor Jim Schell and the singing of the National Anthem by Sara Liptak of Bigler… The Pirates presented the BRL All-Stars with PBT pins during the pre-game greetings, and the hosts reciprocated with baseball caps during the post-game handshakes… On Wednesday, the PBT team is booked for tours of bat-maker Brookville Wood Products in the morning and Grice Museum in the afternoon before concluding the two-day Clearfield stop with a 5:30 p.m. game against the Punxsutawney Teener League All-Stars.
POTTER BASEBALL TOUR PIRATES — 5
Nick Murray ss 2210, Damon Matson ph-cf 1000, Zach Scheurman c 2010, Nick Sia cf-ss 4210, Connor Kirby 1b 3001, Kyle Carter lf 1000, Lucas Murray 3b 4012, Kurtis Krise p 1000, Christian Marciano p 2000, Kirby p 1000, Chris Shurtz rf-lf-1b 1100, Jimmy Hegarty 2b 1000, Carter lf 1000, Krise ph-rf 2000. TOTALS: 26 5 4 3.
CLEARFIELD BABE RUTH LEAGUE ALL-STARS
Christian Stone 2b 3010, Nate Bumbarger cf 2300, Christian Lezzer lf-p 3110, Mason Root p-1b 3112, Devin Jones 1b 1000, Matt Josephson rf 3101, Seth Ford rf 1000, Dale Confer eh 3122, Tanner Ogden ph 1000, Matt Kushner ss 2110, Coleman Kubala 1b-p, Jonas Kochan lf 1000, Ben Panebianco c 2012, Christian Flood 3b 3011. TOTALS: 29 8 8 8.
Score by Innings
PBT Pirates 200 120 0 – 5 4 3
BRL All-Stars 411 110 x – 8 8 3
Errors – N. Murray 2, Kirby, L. Murray; Lezzer, Root, Flood. LOB – PBT Pirates 7; BRL All-Stars 10. 2B – Lezzer. SB – N. Murray, Scheurman, Sia 3; Bumbarger 2, Kushner.
Pitching
PBT Pirates – Krise 2 IP, 2 H, 5 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 0 K; Marciano 3 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K; Kirby 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K.
BRL All-Stars – Root 3 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K; Lezzer 3 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 7 K; Kubala 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K.
HB – Root 1 (Scheurman), Lezzer 1 (Hegarty). WP – Root 1, Lezzer 1. Balk – Lezzer 1.
W – Lezzer. L – Krise. Save – Kubala.
Umpires – Jay Siegel (plate); Hank Wilson (bases).
