HYDE – Seven lettermen provide a solid nucleus for the 2011 Clearfield Area High School baseball team’s transition to the Mountain League, but coach Sid Lansberry still is somewhat apprehensive as he prepares to embark on a milestone 40th season at his alma mater.
The Bisons had their opener against Indian Valley postponed Friday and are scheduled to play at Bellefonte Monday, weather permitting.
“If we have a strong suit, it should be defense,” Lansberry said. “Pitching, in my mind, still is a big question mark, and I’m disappointed right now that we’re not making contact as well as we should. It’s early, but we’re not being consistent with the bats.”
Six of the returnees are seniors, including three-year starter Derek Danver and two-year vets Andrew Redden and Trevor Flanagan.
Danver, a middle infielder, has hiked his batting average each year, hitting .345 with 11 runs batted in last season. He’s collected 53 hits, 12 for extra bases, and 34 RBIs in his career.
Redden had a breakout year with 11 multi-hit games, cracking 31 hits for a .478 average and supplying the thunder for the Bisons with almost a third of their 34 extra base hits. He belted five home runs, two triples and four doubles, drove in 22 runs and scored 20 runs, leading the team in every offensive statistic except doubles.
Flanagan, who was 3-0 with a 3.56 earned run average and 18-9 strikeout-walk ratio as a sophomore, stepped into the No. 1 starter role but saw his ERA spike to 6.93 while allowing 65 hits and 20 walks in 33.1 innings. He struck out 21 and had a 2-3 record in eight starts, missing the last two weeks of the season because of a back injury.
Flanagan hit .286 in 14 plate appearances. He started two games at first base.
Jarrett Fulmer, another middle infielder, had a productive season as the leadoff batter, reaching base 38 times in 78 trips to the plate and hitting .328. He had 19 singles, drew a team-high 15 walks and was hit by a pitch four times. He was second in runs scored with 19.
Tyler Jacobson (.275) was the regular third baseman and also a spot starter. He had 14 hits and 10 RBIs. He pitched in eight games, making three starts, and was 1-3 with a 6.12 ERA. He gave up 47 hits, struck out 14 and walked 14.
Outfielder Shane Harper had his problems at the plate but got the job done in left. He moved to center when the since-graduated Chad Zurat went to the mound.
The lone underclassman who lettered is Kurtis Krise. The sophomore right-hander appeared in seven games, four as a starter, and was 1-1 with a 7.28 ERA. In 17.1 innings, he surrendered 35 hits and nine walks while striking out seven.
The Bisons wound up with a 6.36 ERA last spring, and that factored into their 9-10 record, for they compiled a .324 batting average and scored almost seven runs a game. Consistency at the plate was a problem last year, too, as the Bisons scored 10 runs or more in five of their wins and two runs or less in five of their losses.
“We gave up way too many hits and runs,” Lansberry said. “We have to pitch a lot better this year.”
Flanagan and Fulmer, who blossomed toward the end of the Clearfield Legion season last summer and also did exceptionally well in fall ball, probably will get most of the starts.
“They are pretty equal right now,” Lansberry said.
Krise and junior Ronny Ogden will be called on during the busy weeks. Like Fulmer, the latter upped his stock with his work in the summer and fall.
Jacobson’s role primarily will be as a reliever.
Redden made the move from first base to catching during the 2010 Legion season, and Lansberry expects him to team with infielders Danver, Fulmer and Jacobson and center fielder Harper to make the Bison defense strong up the middle.
“Defensively, we should be pretty decent most games,” Lansberry said.
Danver and Fulmer can go at second or short, while Jacobson will fill in at one of those spots when Fulmer goes to the mound.
Otherwise, Jacobson will be at third base. Flanagan also will see action at the hot corner, too.
Junior Kyler Kephart, unable to throw all of last year because of shoulder surgery, will play first.
Coleman Kubala, another junior, and Ogden will back up Kephart at first as well as Redden behind the plate.
“Kubala has never caught before, but we’re working with him there, and Ogden always can go back there in case of an emergency,” Lansberry said.
Flanking Harper in the outfield will be senior Drew Brown in left and Krise or freshman Christian Lezzer in right.
Ogden’s versatility might pay off with some innings in left, while junior Tanner Ogden is Harper’s back-up.
Eventually, hitting will dictate who Lansberry pencils into the lineup at several positions.
The longtime coach lists Flanagan, Tanner Ogden and senior Steve Miller as potential designated hitters if he decides to go that route.
The new-look schedule brings back some former Bison opponents while ending relations with Class AAAA rivals DuBois, State College, Altoona and Hollidaysburg.
All were members of the now-defunct Central Penn League, which Clearfield joined in 1972, Lansberry’s first season at the helm.
So was Class AAA St. Marys, which the Bisons could face in the District 9 Playoffs.
Clearfield also had to drop out of the District 9 League, which Lansberry had been advocating for years, after just two seasons.
Three members of the D-9 loop – Punxsutawney, Brookville and Bradford – and Mountain League Allegheny Division rival Huntingdon are the only teams retained on Clearfield’s 20-game regular season slate.
The Bisons are bracketed with Philipsburg-Osceola, Tyrone, Central and Central Mountain as well as Huntingdon in the Allegheny Division.
They’ll play home-and-home games against those teams cross over to take on the Nittany Division’s Bald Eagle Area, Bellefonte, Penns Valley, Indian Valley, Lewistown and Juniata once.
“I don’t think it’s going to be any easier, competitively, although we’re not going to be playing as many bigger schools,” Lansberry said. “There are some very good teams in that league.”
He noted Central was PIAA Class AA runner-up last year while Lewistown won a state title a few years ago.
“We’re familiar with some teams because of past years,” Lansberry said. “Obviously, P-O is going to be pretty good, Huntingdon has a lot of people back and I know Bellefonte has two good pitchers.
“We still play Punxsy, and they have some good players back, and Brookville is pretty loaded this year.
“There are good teams on the schedule, no doubt about it.”
Lansberry’s teams sport a combined 528-342-3 record.
Coaches on his staff are Donnie Shimmel, varsity assistant in charge of junior varsity program; Brandon Billotte, varsity assistant; Chris Peacock, varsity assistant; Shane Davis, junior varsity assistant; Curtis Campman, junior varsity assistant, and Ed Yeager, varsity and junior varsity assistant.
Zurat, one of seven seniors last year, developed into an all-around standout for the Bisons. The hard-throwing right-hander went from closer to late-season starter and was 5-1 with the lone loss in the District 9 Class AAA semifinal against Punxsy. His 4.24 ERA and 35 strikeouts in 31.3 innings led the team. He gave up 37 hits and 14 walks.
Zurat was equally important in center field with his range and arm, and he also developed into a good hitter, finishing with a .349 average, 15 hits and 13 runs.
Other key losses through graduation were designated hitter Garrett Samsel, .406 average with 15 hits and 11 RBIs; right fielder Justin Hoffman, .333 with 22 hits and nine RBIs, and catcher Matt Lonjin, .315 with 17 hits, including a team-high six doubles and the only other two home runs, and 12 RBIs.
Reserve infielder Luke Peterson and pinch-hitters Isaac Butler (.308) and Wil Beauseigneur were the other seniors.
The 2011 roster, with letterwinners denoted by (*):
Seniors – Drew Brown, of; Derek Danver (*), ss, 2b; Trevor Flanagan (*), p, 3b, 1b; Jarrett Fulmer (*), p, 2b, ss; Shane Harper (*), of; Tyler Jacobson (*) p, 2b, 3b; Steve Miller, 1b; Andrew Redden (*), c.
Juniors – Kyler Kephart, 1b, p; Coleman Kubala, c, 1b; Jordan Lancaster, 3b; Ronny Ogden, p, of, 1b, c; Tanner Ogden, of.
Sophomore – Kurtis Krise (*), p, of.
Freshmen – Jon Janocko, p, 1b; Christian Lezzer, of; Wyatt Westen, p, of, 3b.
* * * * *
The schedule, with home games in capitals, (ML) for Mountain League Allegheny Division:
(All games at 4:30 p.m. unless noted)
March
28 – at Bellefonte; 30 – LEWISTOWN.
April
1 – at Penns Valley; 4 – INDIAN VALLEY; 6 – at Huntingdon (ML); 11 – TYRONE (ML); 13 – PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA (ML); 15 – at Central Mountain (ML); 18 – BALD EAGLE AREA; 20 – at Juniata; 25 – BROOKVILLE; 27 – HUNTINGDON (ML); 29 – CENTRAL (ML).
May
2 – at Tyrone (ML); 4 – at Philipsbrug-Osceola (ML); 5 – PUNXSUTAWNEY; 9 – CENTRAL MOUNTAIN (ML); 11 – at Central (ML); 16 – at Brookville, 4:15 p.m; 20 – at Bradford, 4:15 p.m.
