Clutch Hits by Herrington, Summers in Seventh Lift Bison to 9-8 Win

HYDE — A two-out single by Thomas Summers chased home Spencer Herrington from third base in the bottom of the seventh inning to give Clearfield a 9-8 walk-off win over Brookville in a strange schoolboy baseball game at the Bison Sports Complex Monday afternoon.

Herrington had come through with another clutch hit moments earlier, drilling a double just inside third base to plate Josh Kennedy with the tying run.

Summers’ fly ball into short right center capped a three-run rally ignited by Wyatt Westen’s one-out sharp single through the middle.

Kennedy then coaxed Nathan St. Laurent’s seventh walk of the non-league game, prompting a pitching change for the Raiders since the senior left-hander’s pitch count had climbed to 130.

A wild pitch by reliever Ashtin Matthews put both runners in scoring position, and Devin Jones lofted a sacrifice fly to left field to set the stage for the big hits by Herrington and Summers.

“What can you say about clutch hits?” Bison coach Sid Lansberry asked. “Every kid in that last inning. Herrington’s, that’s a phenomenal at-bat. He’s down 1-2, battles his way (for a hit).

“And that St. Laurent is a good pitcher. We faced him last year in Legion. I knew we were gonna get him. It seems to happen a lot to us this year. We get their No. 1 pitcher.”

The Bison had entered the do-or-die seventh with only three hits off St. Laurent, but his control troubles and four Raider errors allowed the hosts to grab a 6-0 lead with only one hit through two frames.

Cole Kephart rifled a two-run double to deep right center in the first, and Erik Sellers followed with a sacrifice fly for a 3-0 start.

“Kephart’s double was a bit hit,” Lansberry said. “We walked twice after that. I really think that kid was pitching around him. Hitting that double may have helped us psychologically that way. He (St. Laurent) handled the bottom of our order pretty well until the end.”

The first three batters in the Clearfield (4-10) lineup scored again in the second. With two outs, Herrington walked, Curtis Collins was hit by a pitch and Summers reached on a misplay. Another error and a wild pitch doubled the Bison lead.

But the Raiders didn’t roll over.

They chopped their deficit in half against Jon Janocko in the third inning on a solo home run to left by Jarren Ross and two Bison throwing errors on St. Laurent’s RBI single.

Brookville (4-8) added singletons in the next two frames, with Jones relieving Janocko in the fifth.

“(Janocko) wasn’t sharp,” Lansberry said. “His last two outings, Bald Eagle and Bellefonte, he was real sharp. He didn’t have quite as good stuff tonight, but he battled. And we made some mistakes behind him.”

The Raiders moved in front, 7-6, in the sixth by cashing two Jones walks. Ross, who stole two bases, scored on Cameron Yard’s single through the right side and Matthews was awarded home because of the rarely-seen Catch-and-Carry Rule when Kephart stepped out of play making a tough grab on St. Laurent’s twisting foul pop fly.

Shawn Blochburger’s fourth consecutive hit, an error and two groundouts provided St. Laurent with an insurance run in the top of the seventh and had the Bison on the verge of an unbelievable ninth loss in which they had led.

“Yeah, it’s disappointing when we get ahead and we blow it, kind of, but it happens,” Lansberry said. “We’re playing with seven sophomores. So, you’ve just gotta live with it and, hopefully, turn it around.”

Westen, Herrington and Summers pointed the Bison in the right direction by delivering with the bats in the seventh.

“These kids deserve that win,” Lansberry said. “They’ve played hard. I don’t have any complaints about their effort.”

Jones, making his eighth relief appearance of the season, picked up his first victory in three decisions. The junior right-hander struck out four in three innings, giving up two hits, three walks and two earned runs.

“Jones did a good job,” Lansberry said. “He gave up a couple runs, but he gave us a chance to come back and win.”

And end the string of games in which the Bison watched leads turn into losses.

Clearfield will go to Spring Mills to play Penns Valley Tuesday and return to the BSC to host Central Wednesday in Mountain League games.

Dan Collins pitched a one-hitter, singled twice and drove in two runs as the Clearfield junior varsity rolled to an 11-0 win in five innings.

Kyle Kushner also had a pair of hits and scored twice, while Jonathan Trimpey scored three runs.

BROOKVILLE — 8

Jarren Ross cf 321, Ashtin Matthews ss-p 4221, Nathan Bonfardine 2b 3000, Cameron Yard 3b 4011, Nathan St. Lauren p-1b 3211, Kyle Dunkle c 1000, Brandon Bietz lf 2000, Shawn Blochburger rf 4141, Jordan Tosh lf-2b 0000, Justin Snyder dh 2000, Zach Byerly 1b-ss 40001.  TOTALS: 30  8  10  6.

CLEARFIELD — 9

Spencer Herrington 2b 3321, Curtis Collins lf 2200, Thomas Summers 1b-rf 4211, Jon Janocko p-1b 3010, Cole Kephart ss 2012, Erik Sellers 3b 3001, Wyatt Westen cf 4110, Josh Sorbera c 0000, Josh Kennedy dh 3100, Sawyer Rowles rf 1000, Zach Timchak rf 1000, Devin Jones p 1001.  TOTALS: 27  9  6  6.

Score by Innings

Brookville    003 112 1 – 8  10  5
Clearfield     330 000 3 – 9   6  5
E – Matthews, Yard 3, Byerly; Herrington, Collins, Janocko, Sorbera, Rowles. LOB – Brookville 9; Clearfield 10. 2B – Herrington, Kephart. HR – Ross. SB – Ross 3, Matthews, Yard.

Pitching

Brookville – St. Laurent 5-1/3 IP, 4 H, 8 R, 4 ER, 7 BB, 6 K; Matthews 1/3 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 K.
Clearfield – Janocko 4+ IP (faced 3 batters in 5th), 8 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 5 BB, 5 K; Jones 3 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K.
HB – St. Laurent 1 (Collins). WP – St. Laurent 3, Matthews 2; Janocko 1.
W – Jones (1-2). L – Matthews.
Umpires – Lynn Gilham (plate) and Gary Kost (bases).

Bison Scoreboard: