BELLEFONTE — Brandon Orsich registered a win and a save as the Clearfield American Legion Post 6 baseball team opened the 35th Bellefonte Bandits Wood Bat Tournament with a doubleheader sweep on John Montgomery Ward Field in Governors Park Friday afternoon.
Orsich pitched a two-hit gem for a 3-0 shutout against Clarence and came back to finish off a 6-5 victory over TBW Select of Maryland.
St. Mary’s (Md.) defeated TBW Select 7-1 in the other game.
Another tripleheader is booked for Saturday with Clearfield meeting St. Mary’s in the 5:30 p.m. finale.
All four teams will return Sunday morning for semifinal games at 9 and 11, with the winners advancing to the tourney championship game at 2 p.. at Medlar Field in Lubrano Park on the Penn State campus.
Orsich was masterful whitewashing Clarence (1-6-1) in a game that also counted in the Central Penn League.
The Chiefs’ ace needed only 69 pitches for his two-hit gem that was highlighted by 10 strikeouts. He did not issue a walk, going to three-ball counts just two times.
Orsich set down the last 13 Mounties he faced, eight on strikes.
The right-hander did hit one batter, but none of the three Clarence base runners touched second base with one gunned down by catcher Zane Morgan on a steal attempt and another erased on a double play started by first baseman Bryce Timko.
Clearfield (5-4, 4-4 CPL) didn’t solve loser Ryan Guenot until the fourth inning when singles by Zane Morgan and Josh Sorbera and a double to left center by Ty Bender broke the ice. Sorbera then scored on Reese Wilson’s groundout.
Wilson led off the seventh frame with a double to deep right center eventually sprinted to the plate on a third-strike throw to first base.
Morgan, Sorbera and Bender each had two of Clearfield’s seven hits off Guenot, who fanned eight and walked two.
Like the first game, the Chiefs had only one hit the first time around against TBW Select’s Max Conrad but trailed only 3-2 thanks to unearned runs in the first and second innings.
After Sorbera reached on a bad-hop single to begin the fourth frame, Bender walloped a home run over the center field fence to put Clearfield ahead.
TBW Select regained the lead on two-out RBI singles by Matt Nowakowski and Brandley De La Cruz in the bottom of the fifth inning. Both runs were unearned due to an misplay of Conrad’s leadoff grounder.
Clearfield turned a potential loss into a win for Jake Sorbera in the top of the sixth.
Timko rifled a double up the right center alley with one out and scored the tying run on a clutch two-out double to deep center by Will Myers.
After Myers moved to third on a wild pitch while Wyatt Porter was drawing a walk from reliever De La Cruz, Thayne Morgan ripped a single to left field for the game-winning hit.
Sorbera closed out his first start by working around two Chiefs’ errors, and manager Sid Lansberry didn’t hesitate to call on Orsich to save his first win.
Orsich did give up two hits before ending it with his second strikeout.
Two of TBW Select’s three runs off Sorbera in the first inning also were unearned, with the big blow a two-run double by Alec Schwartz.
Sorbera struck out five and walked four in six innings, allowing seven hits but only one earned run.
CLEARFIELD — 3
Thayne Morgan ss-eh 3000, Justin Fedder 2b 3000, Zane Morgan c 3120, Josh Sorbera 3b 3120, Ty Bender rf 3021, Reese Wilson cf 3111, Jake Sorbera lf 3000, Jarrit Wagner dh 3000, Will Myers eh-ss 2000, Bryce Timko 1b 1000. TOTALS: 27 3 7 2.
CLARENCE — 0
Ryan Guenot p 3000, A.J. Onder 1b 2000, Trey Butterworth c 2000, Andy Swabick cf 2010, Hunter Eminhizer 3b 2000, Cale Burkett rf-eh 2000, Nick Laird 3h 1000, Garrett Barnhart rf 1000, Luke Jozefick lf 2000, Grant King ss 2010, Tanner Kresovich 2b 2000. TOTALS: 21 0 2 0.
Score by Innings
Clearfield   000 200 1 – 3 7 0
Clarence     000 000 0 – 0 2 2
E – Eminhizer, Nowakowski. DP – Clearfield 1 (Timko and Myers). LOB – Clearfield 5; Clarence 1. 2B – Bender, Wilson. SB – Fedder, Jo. Sorbera. CS – Onder (by Z. Morgan).
Pitching
Clearfield – Orsich 7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 10 K.
Clarence – Guenot 7 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 8 K.
HB – Orsich 1 (Onder). WP – Guenot 3.
W – Orsich (3-1). L – Guenot.
Umpires – Jerry Zollars (plate) and Joe Menna (bases).
* * * * *
CLEARFIELD — 6
Thayne Morgan eh-2b 3111, Justin Fedder 2b-eh 4010, Zane Morgan c-3b 3000, Alec Graham 3b 1000, Josh Sorbera 3b-c 3110, Ty Bender 4f 3112, Alex Coval rf 1000, Reese Wilson cf 3010, Brandon Orsich 1b-p 3010, Bryce Timko 1b 1110, Jarrit Wagner dh 3010, Jake Sorbera p-1b 1000, Will Myers ss 2112, Wyatt Porter lf 1000. TOTALS: 29 6 8 5.
TBW SELECT — 5
Adam Reed cf 4110, Matt Davis lf-2b 3100, Alec Schwartz 1b 3112, Max Conrad p 3000, J.P. Williams 1000, Nick Varner c 4110, Rhane Jones ss 4121, Paul Hansel rf 3000, Matt Nowakowski 3b 3021, Brandley De La Cruz 2b-p 4021.
Score by Innings
Clearfield      110 202 0 – 6 8 4
TBW Select  300 020 0 – 5 9 1
E – T. Morgan, Fedder, Graham, Myers; Jones. PB – Z. Morgan. DP – Clearfield 1 (Ja. Sorbera, Jo. Sorbera, Fedder, Jo. Sorbera and Fedder). LOB – Clearfield 11; TBW Select 11. 2B – Timko, Myers; Schwartz, Nowakowski. HR – Bender (1). Sac – Orsich.
Pitching
Clearfield – Ja. Sorbera 6 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 5 K; Orsich 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K.
TBW Select – Conrad 5 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 2 K; De La Cruz 2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 2 K.
HB – Ja. Sorbera 1 (Davis). WP – Conrad 5, De La Cruz 1.
W – Ja. Sorbera (1-0). L – Conrad. Sv – Orsich (1).
Umpires – Cody Cogan (plate) and Jerry Zollars (bases).
