Bison Handed First Loss by Chucks in Extra Innings, 7-4

HYDE — Punxsutawney erupted for three runs in the top of the ninth inning to spoil the home opener for the Clearfield Area High School baseball team Monday.

The 7-4 loss was the first in four games for the Bison, who played their District 9 Class AAA rivals on even terms until the Chucks got to Thomas Summers with one out in the second extra frame.

As they did earlier against Bison starter Brandon Orsich, the batters at the top of the Punxsy lineup did the damage.

Braxton Giavedoni’s double ignited the winning rally. After Dakota Thomas stroked his third single, Penn State recruit Ryan Sloniger chased home both runners with a two-bagger. One out later, Sloniger scored on Dakotah Byers’ third RBI hit.

Then, the hard-throwing Sloniger struck out the side in his second inning of relief to notch the win.

“Punxsutawney definitely is an outstanding team,” Clearfield coach Sid Lansberry said. “The top part of their order is very tough, and Brandon did a good job of holding them down.

“Thomas came in and pitched well. He just left a couple of changeups out over the plate.”

Punxsy, which had thumped St. Marys 20-5 with runs in all four innings last week, threatened to put Clearfield in a hole early, but Orsich stranded two runners with a strikeout after singles by Thomas, Ruben Taylor and Byers produced a run.

The Bison answered in a big way against Kent State commit John Matthews, also a hard-throwing right-hander who quickly got in trouble by walking Sawyer Rowles and, after Spencer Herrington singled, hitting Josh Sorbera.

A single by Summers and sacrifice flies by Cole Kephart and Dan Collins gave the Bison a 3-1 lead.

Both teams added a run in the third inning, Punxsy on a Giavedoni single and a two-out miscue and Clearfield on a walk and back-to-back two-out hits by Orsich and Tommy Hazel off Byers.

The Bison managed four more hits off Byers and Sloniger but never had another runner reach second base in their last six at-bats.

Meanwhile, the Chucks drew even with two runs in the fifth.

After Thomas received a free pass and Sloniger doubled, Taylor’s sacrifice fly to center and Byers’ double made it 4-4.

Summers relieved Orsich in the seventh and kept the Chucks at bay for two innings before they broke it open.

Lansberry was encouraged by the Bison’s showing against what is perceived by some to be the best Punxsy team since the 2007 Chucks won the state championship.

“I’m proud of the way we played against what might be the best team we’ll see all year,” he said. “They’re loaded.

“We did a lot of good things, and we had 11 hits off of some excellent pitching.”

Summers led the Bison with three singles, while Herrington, Sorbera and Hazel had two apiece.

Clearfield returns to Mountain League action Tuesday against Bald Eagle Area at Wingate.

PUNXSUTAWNEY — 7

Braxton Giavedoni cf 4220, Dakota Thomas ss-2b 4230, Ryan Sloniger c-p 5322, Ruben Taylor lf 4011, Dakotah Byers p-3b-p 5032, Lance Pennington 1b 4000, Brandon Blose rf 4010, Ryan Jones 2b 0000, Joey DiPietro c 0000, Dylan Huey dh 3000, John Matthews p-ss 4010. TOTALS: 37 7 12 5.

CLEARFIELD — 4

Sawyer Rowles cf 4100, Spencer Herrington ss 5120, Josh Sorbera c 4120, Will Myers 2b 0000, Thomas Summers dh-p 5031, Cole Kephart 3b 40001, Dan Collins 1b 2001, Erik Sellers 1b 1000, Noah Cline lf-2b 3100, Brandon Orsich p 3010, Jonathan Trimpey lf 1010, Tommy Hazel rf 4021. TOTALS: 36 4 11 4.

Score by Innings

Punxsutawney      101 020 003 – 7  12  0
Clearfield               301 000 000 – 4  11  3
E – Rowles, Herrington, Collins. DP – Clearfield 1 (Myers, Herrington and Collins). LOB – Punxsutawney 9; Clearfield 10. 2B – Giavedoni, Sloniger, Byers. SF – Taylor; Kephart, Collins.

Pitching

Punxsutawney – Mathews 2 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 K; Byers 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K; Sloniger 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K.
Clearfield – Orsich 6+ IP (faced 1 batter in 7th), 7 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 3 K; Summers 3 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K.
HB – Matthews 1 (Sorbera). PO – Summers 2 (Giavedoni, Thomas).
W – Sloniger. L – Summers (2-1).

Bison Scoreboard: