Bison Bats Explode for 13-3 Victory Over Mounties

HYDE — Emphasis on making better contact during the previous afternoon’s batting practice paid huge dividends for the Clearfield Area High School baseball team Thursday.

The Bison cracked 17 hits, including two home runs and six doubles, for a six-inning 13-3 victory over Philipsburg-Osceola in their Mountain League finale at the Bison Sports Complex.

Leadoff batter Sawyer Rowles bashed his first career homer and added two doubles to pace the attack.

Spencer Herrington and Marcus Luzier joined him in the three-hit column, while Thomas Summers, Will Myers and Erik Sellers chipped in two hits apiece.

Summers drove in runs with a first-inning double and a third-inning homer, his third of the season.

Luzier and Sellers each had a two-bagger and two RBIs, and Dan Collins delivered a double in a pinch-hit role that led to Herrington’s walk-off single in the sixth.

“If you popped the ball up, you did 10 pushups,” coach Sid Lansberry’s explained the Bison’s Wednesday hitting session. “So, we had only two pop-ups tonight, which is unusual for us. Usually, it’s six or seven times a game, straight up in the air.

“I don’t know if that had anything to do with it or not, but maybe. We’re gonna keep working on that, hitting the ball hard on the ground and hitting line drives.”

The Bison came out of the dugout pounding the ball off Mountie junior left-hander Isaac Knepp, who had won all three of his decisions and boasted a 2.82 earned run average.

Sawyer ripped a double to deep left, Herrington slashed a single to right and, following a Mountie miscue, Summers doubled over centerfielder Levi Hughes’ head.

After Cole Kephart walked, Josh Sorbera scored when Myers grounded into a double play to give the Bison a rare early lead at 3-0.

“Sawyer started the game with a bang,” Lansberry said. “Those three runs were so strange I didn’t know what to think.”

Philipsburg-Osceola (7-10, 5-7 ML) made it a one-run contest with singletons in the second and third innings, but Clearfield restored order in the lower third.

Summers led off by crushing his homer over the fence in left. One out later, Myers singled, advanced to second and scored on Luzier’s high fly that dropped just inside the left field line for a double.

The Mounties still wouldn’t go away and cut the margin to 5-3 on Cam Domblisky’s RBI single in the fifth.

Lansberry admitted he was “pretty worried” before the Bison made it a rout with a seven-run outburst.

Singles by Myers and Luzier got them going. After Tommy Hazel sacrificed, Sellers doubled to deep left for two RBIs and trotted home when Rowles jumped on the next pitch for his home run to left.

“Those two hits back-to-back were key, because Thomas was struggling a little bit,” Lansberry said.

Herrington’s single prompted a pitching change for P-O, and reliever Tanner Wilson walked Sorbera and Summers to load the bases. Grounders by Cole Kephart and Myers and a single by Luzier made it 12-3.

The Bison ended it in a hurry in the sixth.

Collins ripped a double down the left field line, Rowles singled to center and Herrington singled to left to match the season-high in runs.

Summers was the beneficiary of the second-best hit output and a couple of outstanding defensive plays in notching his seventh win though surrendering nine hits.

“I think that’s probably the hardest Thomas has been hit this year,” Lansberry said. “He maybe didn’t have his best stuff, but they still attacked the ball. They were aggressive.”

Myers prevented the Mounties from posing a threat in the first inning by ranging far to his right to flag down Williamson’s grounder up the middle and then leaping and throwing a strike to shortstop Herrington for a forceout at second base.

Summers issued his second walk and hit Hughes to begin the fourth frame, but Kephart grabbed Wilson’s roller, stepped on third, pirouetted and fired to Myers at second for a tough, unusual double play.

P-O had two runners aboard with one out in the fifth, only to watch Tommy Hazel field Gage Coudriet’s high fly that fell near the right field line and throw to second for a forceout.

Summers allowed two earned runs and had two strikeouts in his sixth complete game in eight starts.

Logan Williamson and Josh Earnest had two hits apiece for the Mounties, who were playing their sixth game in as many days with two more on the docket against Central Friday.

Central all but clinched the league title by defeating Huntingdon 7-3 Thursday for an 11-1 record.

The Bison, 13-4 overall, locked up second place at 11-3, by far their best finish in the five years they’ve been in the league.

“That’s also the first time we’ve swept P-O in a long time,” Lansberry noted.

Clearfield will wrap up the regular season with three non-league tests next week, beginning with Monday’s Senior Day game against Curwensville.

The Bison junior varsity (5-8) also was victorious, 11-1, in six innings.

Winning pitcher Reese Wilson went the distance and struck out 10, while Noah Rumsky drove in three runs with two hits and Evan Brown had two singles and two stolen bases.

Mountain League standings — Central 11-1, Clearfield 11-3, Bellefonte 9-5, Huntingdon 8-6, Philipsburg-Osceola 5-7, Bald Eagle Area 5-9, Penns Valley 4-10, Tyrone 1-13.

PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA — 3

Tanner Wilson 2b-p 4000, Derek Shaw c 4010, Logan Williamson ss 4120, Josh Earnest rf-cf 4020, Isaac Knepp p-lf 3210, Mitch Winters 3b 2000, Gage Coudriet 1b 3010, Ryan Kost lf 0000, Cam Domblisky dh-2b 2011, Levi Hughes cf 1011, Kevin Croyle rf 1000. TOTALS: 28 2 9 2.

CLEARFIELD — 13

Sawyer Rowles cf 5232, Spencer Herrington ss 4231, Josh Sorbera c 3211, Thomas Summers p 3222, Cole Kephart 3b 3001, Will Myers 2b 4221, Noah Cline lf 0100, Marcus Luzier dh 4032, Tommy Hazel rf 3000, Erik Sellers 1b 2122, Dan Collins ph 1110. TOTALS: 32 13 17 12.

Score by Innings

Philipsburg-Osceola    011 010 –   3    9  2
Clearfield                       302 071 – 13  17  2
E – Williamson, Winter; Kephart 2. DP – Philipsburg-Osceola 1 (Wilson, Williamson and Coudriet); Clearfield 1 (Kephart and Myers). LOB – Philipsburg-Osceola 10; Clearfield 10. 2B – Williamson; Rowles 2, Summers, Luzier, Sellers, Collins. HR – Rowles (1), Summers (3). Sac – Myers. SB – Williamson; Rowles.

Pitching

Philipsburg-Osceola – Knepp 4-1/3 IP, 13 H, 10 R, 9 ER, 1 BB, 0 K; Wilson 2/3 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 0 K.
Clearfield – Summers 6 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K.
HB – Knepp 2 (Kephart, Sellers); Summers 1 (Hughes). WP – Knepp 1; Summers 2.
W – Summers (7-1). L – Knepp (3-1).

Umpires – Jerry Neal (plate) and Sam Bevak (bases).

Bison Scoreboard: