ALTOONA — The Clearfield Area High School baseball team had built momentum and owned a 5-3 lead against Altoona when their Altoona Curve Classic opener at the Peoples Natural Gas Field was delayed by rain for nearly 90 minutes Friday afternoon.
The Mountain Lions grabbed both from the Bison shortly after play resumed in the fifth inning, erupting for seven runs in the sixth and holding on for a 10-8 victory.
Dylan Conrad’s two-run homer off reliever Jon Janocko put the Mountain Lions and Dom Lombardo later belted a two-run double that turned out to be the game-winning hit.
Jaret Berardinelli capped the big inning with an RBI single off Nate Brady, the third Clearfield hurler.
The Bison got two runs back in the lower sixth after hits by Dan Collins and Logan Puit around a walk to Zach Timchak loaded the bases with one out. The RBIs went to Cole Kephart and Janocko on a groundout and a single, respectively.
The Bison, who’ve lost four games by a total of five runs, threatened to pull out their first win when a single by Josh Sorbera plus three walks produced one run, Spencer Herrington’s free pass forcing in Curtis Collins.
However, the Bison’s left-on-base total soared to nine as Trentin Martin, the winner in relief, ended the game with his fourth strikeout. He walked five and gave up five hits and the final three runs in four innings.
Both teams had posted two runs in the first frame, Clearfield capitalizing on two walks to knot the score on Kephart’s single and Curtis Collins’ sacrifice fly.
Coach Sid Lansberry’s Bison chased Mountain Lion starter Ben Foose with three runs in the third inning.
Hits by Herrington and Puit and a walk to Kephart filled the sacks. Janocko made it 3-2 with a sacrifice fly, Thomas Summers singled for an RBI and Kephart scored when Sorbera’s grounder was misplayed.
Altoona (2-1) cut the margin to 5-3 with a run in the fourth off Summers, who fanned four, walked four and surrendered four hits and three runs in his starting stint.
Janocko, who went to the mound after the long delay and wound up being tagged with the loss, and Puit each had two hits for the Bison.
Colby Fink had three of Altoona’s 10 hits and Conrad added a pair.
The Bison will return to PNG Field Saturday for a 12:30 game against Latrobe, which was edged 3-1 by Hollidaysburg.
Backyard rivals Altoona and Hollidaysburg will tangle at 5:30.
Central topped Huntingdon 2-0 and Bishop Carroll nipped Bishop Guilfoyle 4-3 in eight innings in the other games,.
Those losers will square off at 10 a.m. while the winners will meet at 3 p.m.
The championship game is set for Sunday at 1 p.m.
ALTOONA — 10
Joel Reighard 2b 3210, Zach Helsel cf 4120, John McGinley rf 3001, Austin Pope ph 1000, Dylan Conrad c 4222, Josh DeGol 1b 3101, Ben Foose p 2000, Trentin Martin p 1000, Colby Fink 3b 3231, Dom Lombardo lf 4112, Jaret :Berardinelli ss 3111. TOTALS: 31 10 10 8.
CLEARFIELD — 8
Spencer Herrington 2b 2211, Brandon Orsich ph-2b 1000, Sawyer Rowles cf 0000, Nate Brady p 0000, Logan Puit dh 4320, Cole Kephart ss 3112, Jon Janocko 1b-p-1b 3022, Curtis Colliins lf-cf 2101, Thomas Summers p-1b-lf 3011, Josh Sorbera c 4010, Josh Kennedy 3b 1000, Dan Collins ph-3b 2110, Zach Timchak rf 1000, Erik Sellers ph 0000. TOTALS: 26 8 9 7.
E – Helsel, Berardinelli 2; Herrington, Kennedy. DP – Altoona 1 (Berardinelli, Reighard and DeGol). LOB – Altoona 9; Clearfield 9. 3B – Reighard. HR – Conrad. SF – McGinley; Janocko, C. Collins.
Score by Innings
Altoona 200 107 0 – 10 10 3
Clearfield 203 002 1 – 8 9 2
Pitching
Altoona – Foose 3 IP, 3 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 5 BB, 4 K; Martin 4 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 5 BB, 4 K.
Clearfield – Summers 4 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 4 K; Janocko 1-2/3 IP, 4 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 5 BB, 0 K; Brady 1-1/3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K.
WP – Summers 1, Brady 1.
W – Martin. L – Janocko (0-2).