PHILIPSBURG — Sophomore Gage Coudriet pitched a seven-hit shutout as Philipsburg-Osceola, which had stumbled after jumping off to a 5-0 start in the Mountain League, ended a three-game losing streak and claimed a share of the 2016 championship with a 4-0 victory over the Clearfield Area High School baseball team at the Don Womer Complex Friday.
The Mounties finished 9-5, as did Huntingdon and Central after the Bearcats knocked off the Scarlet Dragons 4-1 in their finale. Bald Eagle Area could have created a four-way tie for first place, but the Eagles lost 9-2 to Bellefonte.
The Bison, in contention until Wednesday’s eight-inning 4-3 loss at Bellefonte, wound up 7-7.
Their biggest threat came in the seventh inning when P-O’s lone error on Will Myers’ grounder, one of Coudriet’s two walks and a single by Thayne Morgan filled the sacks with one out.
However, the Mountie middle infielders then turned a game-ending double play to preserve the shutout for Coudriet, who relied on his defense all afternoon. He had only one strikeout.
The only other inning the Bison had more than one runner reach base was the second, two-out hits by losing hurler Myers and Reese Wilson going for naught with Coudriet inducing a forceout.
Myers held the Mounties to five hits, but all came in the two innings in which they scored.
The biggest was Logan Williamson’s two-out triple to deep right field in the second that scored Derek Shaw, aboard via a forceout. Josh Earnest followed with a single through the middle to make it 2-0.
It stayed that way until the sixth, when P-O (12-6) picked up two unearned runs. Trey Shaw doubled and scored on Clearfield’s only misplay. Caleb Belinda’s groundout got Brandon Kephart home.
Myers fanned four and walked five.
Myers and Thayne and Zane Morgan each had two hits for the 9-8 Bison.
They will close the regular season with non-league home games against DuBois Tuesday and Curwensville Thursday.
Mountain League Final Standings — Philipsburg-Osceola 9-5, Central 9-5, Huntingdon 9-5, Bald Eagle Area 8-6, Clearfield 7-7, Bellefonte 7-7, Tyrone 5-9, Penns Valley 2-12.
CLEARFIELD — 0
Zane Morgan c 4020, Justin Fedder 2b 3000, Jon Trimpey 3000, Wyatt Porter 3b 0000, Ty Bender dh 3000, Eli Glass rf 3000, Jake Sorbera rf 0000, Will Myers p 3020, Reese Wilson cf 2010, Seth Bumbarger 1b 2000, Brandon Orsich ph 1000, Thayne Morgan ss 2020. TOTALS: 26 0 7 0.
PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA — 5
Derek Shaw c 3110, Logan Williamson ss 2111, Josh Earnest 2b 2011, Isaac Knepp 1b 1000, Micah Martin lf 3000, Gage Coudriet p 3000, Trey Shaw 3b 3110, Hunter Ammerman rf 0000, Brandon Kephart dh 3110, Caleb Belinda cf 3001. TOTALS: 23 4 5 3.
Score by Innings
Clearfield 000 000 0 – 0 7 1
Philipsburg-Osceola 002 002 x – 4 6 1
E – Bumbarger; T. Shaw. DP – Philipsburg-Osceola 1 (Williamson, Earnest and Knepp). LOB – Clearfield 7; Philipsburg-Osceola 6. 2B – T. Shaw. 3B – Williamson. SB – Z. Morgan. CS – T. Morgan (by Coudriet); T. Morgan (by D. Shaw); D. Shaw (by Z. Morgan).
Pitching
Clearfield – Myers 6 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 5 BB, 4 K.
Philipsburg-Osceola – Coudriet 7 IP, 7 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 K.
W – Coudriet (4-1). L – Myers (1-1).
Bison Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 3/29 | CENTRAL | 11 – 5 | 1 – 0 |
| 4/01 | HUNTINGDON | 3 – 1 | 2 – 0 |
| 4/04 | BELLEFONTE | ppd. | 2 – 0 |
| 4/05 | BELLEFONTE | ppd. | 2 – 0 |
| 4/06 | BELLEFONTE | 3 – 0 | 3 – 0 |
| 4/07 | @ Tyrone | ppd. | 3 – 0 |
| 4/08 | @ Punxsutawney | 4 – 9 | 3 – 1 |
| 4/11 | CURWENSVILLE | ppd. | 3 – 1 |
| 4/12 | BALD EAGLE AREA | ppd. | 3 – 1 |
| 4/13 | BALD EAGLE AREA | 1 – 2 | 3 – 2 |
| 4/15 | @ Penns Valley | 3 – 4 | 3 – 3 |
| 4/18 | PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA | 4 – 2 | 4 – 3 |
| 4/19 | @ Brookville | 7 – 2 | 5 – 3 |
| 4/21 | @ Central | 0 – 6 | 5 – 4 |
| 4/23 | @ Tyrone | 7 – 0 | 6 – 4 |
| 4/26 | @ Huntingdon | 2 – 5 | 6 – 5 |
| 4/29 | @ Bellefonte | ppd. | 6 – 5 |
| 5/02 | TYRONE | ppd. | 6 – 5 |
| 5/03 | @ Curwensville | 13 – 0 | 7 – 5 |
| 5/04 | TYRONE | 6 – 4 | 8 – 5 |
| 5/05 | @ Bald Eagle Area | 2 – 5 | 8 – 6 |
| 5/09 | @ The Kiski School | cancelled | 8 – 6 |
| 5/10 | PENNS VALLEY | 11 – 7 | 9 – 6 |
| 5/11 | @ Bellefonte | 3 – 4 | 9 – 7 |
| 5/13 | @ Philipsburg-Osceola | 0 – 5 | 9 – 8 |
| 5/17 | DUBOIS | ||
| 5/19 | CURWENSVILLE |
