Bearcats Edge Bison 10-8 With Two Runs in Seventh Inning

HYDE — After erasing a five-run deficit in the sixth inning, the Clearfield Area High School baseball team’s bid for that elusive first win ended in disappointment again Tuesday at the Bison Sports Complex.

Huntingdon came right back to snap the tie in the top of the seventh and nudge the Bison, 10-8, in Mountain League action.

“That was typical of the way our season has gone,” coach Sid Lansberry said after the now 0-8 Bison absorbed their fifth loss by either one or two runs. “(We) get behind, battle back and then we shoot ourselves in the foot.”

Errors enabled Huntingdon to spoil Clearfield’s season opener 7-6 with five unearned runs back on March 27, and though most of the Bison’s eight miscues in the rematch didn’t figure directly into the scoring, they extended innings for hurlers Brandon Orsich and Thomas Summers.

“Defensively, we made some big mistakes,” Lansberry conceded. “But, we battled back. You’ve got to give them credit for that.”

The Bison were chasing the Bearcats most of the game.

Huntingdon (4-4, 3-4 ML) scored in every inning except the fifth, going up 5-0 against Orsich before Clearfield made some noise in the lower third with three of its four hits.

Logan Puit pounded a double over left fielder Chris Alleman’s head to drive in Sawyer Rowles, who had walked and moved up on Zach Timchak’s first career hit. With two outs, the Bison caught a break when Jon Janocko’s hard grounder was booted and Curtis Collins followed with a liner to center for an RBI to make it 5-3.

Summers relieved after Hunter Price led off the fourth inning with the seventh hit allowed by Orsich, who struck out three and walked three in the second start of seven appearances.

“Brandon wasn’t as sharp as usual,” Lansberry said. “We could tell he didn’t have his best stuff, cause he’s looked very good in his other outings.”

Tanner Cook immediately chased home Price with a triple to deep right field and scored on a suicide squeeze bunt by Logan Fisher.

In the sixth, Cook doubled and crossed the plate on Fisher’s grounder to set the stage for Clearfield’s big inning, thanks to Huntingdon’s generosity, that knotted the wild game at 8-8.

Control problems for two Bearcat pitchers and two errors enabled the Bison to draw even.

Starter Nate Gearhart was pulled with one out after walking Janocko and Summers, and Price, Huntingdon’s ace, simply couldn’t find the plate.

With two outs, he walked pinch-hitters Josh Kennedy and Dan Collins to force in one run, and the Bison stayed alive when Spencer Herrington’s grounder was booted, with Kennedy scoring.

Erik Sellers picked up an RBI when he was hit by an 0-2 curve, a dropped third strike allowed Timchak to cross the plate and Herrington scored the tying run when Janocko drew his second free pass of the inning.

Devon Claar relieved and prevented further damage with a strikeout.

He wound up the winner and Summers was saddled with the loss when Clearfield failed to turn what would have been an inning-ending double play. That allowed Alleman, who was at second because his single to left was misplayed, to score the deciding run. Cook provided insurance with his third hit.

Josh Sorbera’s one-out single did bring the tying run to the plate for the Bison, but Claar set down the next two batters on a flyout and his second strikeout.

Huntingdon could have had Clearfield in a bigger hole than 5-0 after three innings had Orsich not logged strikeouts that stranded seven runners.

The Bearcats struck for two runs in the first inning, getting a sacrifice fly from Price and an RBI single from Rhett Stetchock after Cook walked to re-load the bases. Orsich escaped further trouble with a strikeout before Gearhart flied out.

An error and back-to-back doubles by Wagner and Claar upped the Bearcat lead to 4-0 in the second, and Stetchock tripled and scored on an error in the third.

Though they were able to make the Bearcats sweat, the Bison fell to 0-5 in the league.

“I feel bad for the kids,” Lansberry said. “They’re working hard and they try. They hustle. They play for seven innings.

“There’s no attitude problem on this team. Everybody was up on the fence during the game.

“Sometimes you’ve gotta make your own breaks, but we just haven’t had any.”

The Bison will close out the busy week with ML home games against Bald Eagle Area Friday at 4:30 p.m. and Tyrone Saturday at 11 a.m.

In the junior varsity game, Clearfield (3-3) eked out a 3-2 victory. Will Myers had two hits and pitched two innings with five strikeouts to save the win for Tommy Hazel, who also whiffed five.

HUNTINGDON — 10

Chris Alleman lf 4320, Jon Wagner ss-2b 5221, Devon Claar 2b-p 3011, Brian McLaughlin 2b 0000, Hunter Price 3b-p-2b-ss 4211, Tanner Cook cf 4232, Rhett Stetchock 1b 5121, Logan Fisher rf 3002, Nate Gearhart p-3b 4010, Leif Brown c 0000, Daniel Kyper dh 3000, Matt Speck ph 1000.  TOTALS: 36 10 12 8.

CLEARFIELD — 8

Spencer Herrington ss-2b 4100, Logan Puit lf 3111, Erik Sellers 3b 0001, Cole Kephart 3b-ss 4000, Jon Janocko 1b 2101, Curtis Collins 2b-lf 4011, Brandon Orsich p 0000, Thomas Summers dh-p 3000, Josh Sorbera c 4110, Sawyer Rowles cf 2100, Josh Kennedy ph 0100, Zach Timchak rf 3210, Dan Collins ph 0001.  TOTALS: 29 8 4 5.

Score by Innings

Huntingdon   221 201 2 – 10  12  3
Clearfield       003 005 0 –   8    4  8
E – Wagner 2, Brown; Sellers, Kephart 3, Janocko, C. Collins 2, Summers. LOB – Huntingdon 11; Clearfield 7. 2B – Wagner, Claar, Cook; Puit. 3B – Cook, Stetchock. Sac – Fisher. SF – Price.

Pitching

Huntingdon – Gearhart 5-1/3 IP, 3 H, 5 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 2 K; Price 1/3 IP, 0 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 1 K; Claar 1-1/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K.
Clearfield – Orsich 3+ IP (faced 1 batter in 4th), 7 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 3 K; Summers 4 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K.
HB – Price 1 (Sellers). WP – Summers 2.
W – Claar. L – Summers (0-3).

Bison Scoreboard: