HYDE – In four decades as Clearfield Area High School head baseball coach, Sid Lansberry never went into a season with a less experienced team than the 2012 Bisons.
Only five lettermen return, and none was a full-time starter last spring when the Bisons finished 9-11, including an 8-3 loss to St. Marys in the District 9 Class AAA semifinals.
Seniors Kyler Kephart, Coleman Kubala, Ronny Ogden and Tanner Ogden and junior Kurtis Krise, the lone two-year letterwinner, are the returnees.
Gone are left fielder Drew Brown, shortstop Derek Danver, pitcher-infielder Trevor Flanagan, pitcher-second baseman Jarrett Fulmer, center fielder Shane Harper, infielder-pitcher Tyler Jacobson, designated hitter Steve Miller and catcher Andrew Redden via graduation and right fielder Christian Lezzer, a sophomore who did not rejoin the team.
Replacing seven position starters and most of the pitching staff was called “an unenviable task” by Lansberry before Clearfield departed for its annual Spring Trip and Friday’s opener against Norfolk Collegiate.
“It’s going to take a lot of patience and hard work,” he said. “We’ll be emphasizing basic fundamentals, looking for steady improvement day to day.”
That will be crucial as the Bisons take on a tough schedule that includes Mountain League Allegheny Division foes Philipsburg-Osceola, Tyrone, Central, Huntingdon and Central Mountain, ML cross-over opponents Bald Eagle Area, Bellefonte, Penns Valley and Juniata and District 9 rivals DuBois, Punxsutawney, Brookville, St. Marys and Bradford.
“There will be some difficult times this season, but as long as they can maintain the good attitude they have shown so far, we’ll be able to work through them,” Lansberry said. “Team chemistry is going to be extremely important if we are to obtain any success.”
Equally important will be how much the holdovers have improved and how quickly the newcomers make the transition to the varsity level, for two weeks of practicing in the best preseason weather in memory have not produced a set lineup.
That might not come until much later in the season, with game experience and hitting all-important keys to determining the regulars.
“We’re definitely not where we hoped to be,” Lansberry said. “Everything is pretty much a question mark right now.”
That includes first base where Kephart and Kubala started several games, though both might be moving to new positions.
Kephart is shifting to second base, while Kubala has been working out at third base and behind the plate.
Last year, Kubala also was utilized as a DH and hit .440 in 17 games with three doubles among his 11 safeties.
Kephart never got into a hitting groove after missing the first half of the season because of an injury as he and the other three letterwinners combined for only five hits in 47 official at-bats.
While Lansberry might be writing down several combinations before settling on his opening day lineup, his very tentative depth chart showed sophomore Jonas Kochan as the catcher, Kubala or soph Jon Janocko at first base, Kyler Kephart at second base, freshman Cole Kephart at shortstop, Kubala or soph Wyatt Westen at third base and Tanner Ogden in center field.
The other two outfield jobs were up for grabs with Ronny Ogden, Krise, juniors Michael Wood, Matt Josephson and Christian Flood and soph Curtis Collins in the mix.
Lansberry listed Ronny Ogden, Janocko and freshman Thomas Summers as the leading candidates for the DH role, if used.
Westen will patrol center when Tanner Ogden goes to the mound or moves into shortstop if necessary, while other back-ups are Ronny Ogden behind the plate, Summers at first base, Collins at second and Flood at second or third.
The Ogden cousins will front a pitching staff that logged only 21.2 innings last year.
Ronny Ogden worked 17.2 of those in eight appearances, including two stars. He split two decisions.
Krise (0-1) was limited to 3.1 innings in two outings because of an elbow injury after lettering as a freshman with four starts in seven appearances. He was 1-1.
Kyler Kephart could make an impact after gaining experience in American Legion ball last summer, according to Lansberry.
He added that Westen, Janocko and Summers, the team’s only left-hander, most likely will get their opportunities on the mound, too.
Ineffective pitching has translated into losing records for the Bisons the last two years, with earned run averages of 6.36 and 7.46, respectively.
The Bisons hit .324 and averaged just under seven runs a game in 2010 but finished 9-10 and boosted their offensive production to .327 and 8.7 runs a game in 2011 but wound up 9-11.
They scored at least nine runs in all of their wins last year with six seniors starting every game and hitting over .320.
Danver joined Clearfield’s .500 Club with 28 hits, including seven doubles and five home runs, and drove in 27 runs. He also drew 20 walks, was hit by a pitch four times and scored 34 runs.
Redden matched Danver in doubles and homers and also had two of the team’s three triples among his 30 hits that generated a .429 average and a team-high 34 RBIs.
Fulmer closed his career with 23 hits, including five doubles and two homers, while driving in 17 runs from the leadoff position. He had 19 walks and was hit three times for an on-base average of .526 and scored 32 runs.
Flanagan and Jacobson, who had 22 RBIs, averaged .323, two points higher than Brown, who homered twice and drove in 14 runs.
The bulk of the mound chores were shouldered by Flanagan and Fulmer with seven starts and nine appearances apiece and Jacobson with four starts in eight games.
Flanagan was 4-3 with a team-best 5.30 ERA in 38.1 innings, Fulmer was 2-4 with a 7.64 ERA in 33 innings and Jacobson was 2-2 with a 7.00 ERA in 21 innings.
Danver, who ended his career with 81 hits and 61 RBIs, was a four-year letterman, while Redden and Flanagan earned three letters apiece and Fulmer, Jacobson and Harper each had two.
 Lansberry, who enters the fifth decade at the helm of his alma mater with a 537-353-7 record, will rely on a veteran coaching staff of Donnie Shimmel (22nd year), Brandon Billotte (8th) and Chris Peacock (7th).
Shimmel also heads the junior varsity program with Shane Davis assisting for the second year.
Ed Yeager is in his 13th season as a volunteer assistant with the varsity and jayvees.
The 2012 roster, with letterwinners denoted by (*):
Seniors – Kyler Kephart (*), 2b, 1b, p; Coleman Kubala (*), 1b, 3b; Ronny Ogden (*), of, p, dh; Tanner Ogden (*), of, p, ss.
Juniors – Christian Flood, 2b, 3b, of; Matt Josephson, of; Kurtis Krise (*), p, of; Michael Wood, of.
Sophomores – Curtis Collins, 2b, of; Jon Janocko, p, 1b; Jonas Kochan, c; Wyatt Westen, 3b, p, of.
Freshmen – Cole Kephart, ss, 2b; Thomas Summers, p, 1b, dh.
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The schedule, with home games in capitals and (ML) for Mountain League Allegheny Division games:
(All games at 4:30 p.m. unless noted)
March
23 – at Norfolk (Va.) Collegiate, 4 p.m.; 27 – BELLEFONTE; 30 – PENNS VALLEY.
April
2 – at Punxsutawney, 4:15 p.m.; 4 – HUNTINGDON (ML); 9 – CENTRAL (ML); 11 – at Tyrone (ML); 13 – at Philipsburg-Osceola (ML); 16 – CENTRAL MOUNTAIN (ML); 20 – at Bald Eagle Area; 23 – JUNIATA; 25 – at Huntingdon (ML); 27 – at Central (ML).
May
1 – BRADFORD: 2 – TYRONE (ML); 4 – PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA (ML); 7 – at Central Mountain (ML); 9 – ST. MARYS; 10 – at DuBois; 14 – at Brookville, 4:15 p.m.
