ALTOONA — The Clearfield Area High School baseball team’s six-game winning streak came to a halt Tuesday afternoon when Matt Hartman scored easily on Casey Sheetz’s flyout in the bottom of the seventh inning to give Altoona a 5-4 walk-off victory in a see-saw scrap at Mansion Park.
The Bison out-hit the Mountain Lions 13-5 but couldn’t hold leads of 2-1 and 4-3 as they sought the win that would have locked up the No. 1 seed for the District 9 Class AAAA Playoffs.
Failure to move runners along with sacrifice bunts or bring them home with clutch hits kept the Bison from scoring more against sophomore pitchers Ian Yon and Hartman, the winner in relief, but what really came back to haunt them were a botched pickoff attempt, a catchable fly ball that fell between two players and a baserunning blunder that might have short-circuited a big inning after they had re-taken the lead in the sixth.
“Mental mistakes cost us, just some little things we‘ve been doing well,” disappointed coach Sid Lansberry said after the non-league game which was added to the Clearfield schedule just last Friday. “Other than that, I think we played well. We hit the ball pretty well, but we left too many men on base, that‘s for sure.
“We were right there with them. We could’ve won the game but we didn’t.”
Eli Glass pitched the Bison’s second complete game in as many days but was tagged with the loss because Altoona (9-9) made the most of its five hits, four of them doubles.
The sophomore had three strikeouts and four walks, only one that turned into a run.
“Eli pitched great, I think, against a good lineup,” Lansberry said.
Long back-to-back doubles up the alleys by Ryan Shope and Elliot Mast gave the Mountain Lions a 1-0 start in the first inning, and the teams matched pairs of runs in the third.
The Bison’s Tommy Hazel drilled a two-out, two-run single through the middle off Yon after hits by Seth Bumbarger and Allan Myers, the No. 8 and No. 9 batters, and a walk had loaded the bases.
Two walks and a balk that negated what might have been an inning-ending pickoff got Glass in hot water, and John Gority made him pay with a single to short right center that put the Mountain Lions on top again, 3-2.
Hartman relieved in the fifth and surrendered the tying run when Zane Morgan singled and Hazel chased him home with a line drive down the left field line for a double and his third RBI.
A bad-hop infield hit by Ty Bender and singles by Myers and Thayne Morgan had the Bison poised to break it open in the top of the sixth. Reese Wilson slashed a hit past the drawn-in infield for the go-ahead run, but Morgan rounded second too far and was run down near third, where Myers was standing.
Instead of having to work out of a one-out, bases-loaded situation with the middle of the lineup due up, Hartman needed only one more out to wiggle off the hook.
Still, Glass would have taken that one-run advantage into the seventh had Mast’s high fly not fallen between two Bison in short left. He advanced to third on a groundout and beat an off-line throw to the plate on TJ Becker’s flyout to create another tie score.
Hartman scored the game-winning run after leading off the last inning with a single, stealing second base and moving to third on a wild pitch.
Hazel and Myers were joined in the two-hit column by Zane Morgan, Bender and Bumbarger as the Bison had plenty of runners reach base but stranded nine of them.
“13 hits, you should win most games,” Lansberry said. “What’s important is we forget about this, go down there (Wingate) tomorrow and get a win.”
Clearfield (12-7) ends the regular season with a Mountain League makeup at Bald Eagle Area Wednesday.
The Bison need a victory over the Eagles or a St. Marys (11-8) loss to Elk County Catholic Wednesday to receive the top seed for the district playoffs.
CLEARFIELD — 4
Thayne Morgan 2b 4010, Reese Wilson 4011, Zane Morgan c 3120, Tommy Hazel lf 4023, Will Myers ss 4000, Eli Glass p 3010, Alec Graham cr 0000, Ty Bender rf 4120, Seth Bumbarger 1b 3120, Harrison Peacock 3b 0000, Allan Myers dh 3120. TOTALS: 32 4 13 4.
ALTOONA — 5
Casey Sheetz 2b 2101, Ryan Shope c 3110, Elliot Mast rf 2221, John Gority 1b 3012, TJ Becker cf 2001, Ian Yon p 0000, Cole Gibson 2b 0000, Jake Solarski dh 3000, Jake Plunket 3b-ss 3000, Matt Hartman ss-p 2110, Trevor Miller lf 2000, Jake Hunter ph 0000, Jake Hord pr 0000. TOTALS: 22 5 5 5.
Score by Innings
Clearfield 002 011 0 – 4 13 0
Altoona 102 001 1 – 5 5 0
LOB – Clearfield 9; Altoona 3. 2B – Hazel; Shope, Mast 2, Hartman. SF – Sheetz, Becker. SB – Hazel; Hartman. CS – Graham (by Shope).
Pitching
Clearfield – Glass 6-2/3 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 4 BB, 3 K.
Altoona – Ion 4 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K; Hartman 3 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K.
WP – Glass 1. PO – Glass 1 (Hartman).
W – Hartman (1-0). L – Glass (3-2).
Umpires – Joe Piotti (plate) and Bill Vigne (bases).
Bison Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 3/27 | CENTRAL | ppd. | 0 – 0 |
| 3/28 | @ Central | ppd. | 0 – 0 |
| 3/29 | CENTRAL | ppd. | 0 – 0 |
| 3/30 | @ Huntingdon | 7 – 5 | 1 – 0 |
| 4/01 | @ Central | ppd. | 1 – 0 |
| 4/04 | @ Bellefonte | ppd. | 1 – 0 |
| 4/05 | @ Bellefonte | 0 – 10 | 1 – 1 |
| 4/06 | PUNXSUTAWNEY | ppd. | 1 – 1 |
| 4/07 | TYRONE | ppd. | 1 – 1 |
| 4/08 | @ Central | 2 – 8 | 1 – 2 |
| 4/10 | BALD EAGLE AREA | 1 – 2 | 1 – 3 |
| 4/11 | CURWENSVILLE | 10 – 2 | 2 – 3 |
| 4/13 | PENNS VALLEY | 6 – 3 | 3 – 3 |
| 4/17 | CENTRAL | 3 – 2, 8 inn. | 4 – 3 |
| 4/18 | @ Philipsburg-Osceola | 6 – 9 | 4 – 4 |
| 4/20 | PUNXSUTAWNEY | 3 – 2 | 5 – 4 |
| 4/24 | HUNTINGDON | 2 – 5 | 5 – 5 |
| 4/25 | TYRONE | 7 – 5 | 6 – 5 |
| 4/27 | BELLEFONTE | 3 – 7 | 6 – 6 |
| 4/28 | BROOKVILLE | 12 – 2 | 7 – 6 |
| 5/01 | @ Bradford | ppd. | 7 – 6 |
| 5/02 | @ Tyrone | 3 – 1 | 8 – 6 |
| 5/03 | @ Bradford | cancelled | 8 – 6 |
| 5/05 | @ Bald Eagle Area | ppd. | 8 – 6 |
| 5/08 | @ Penns Valley | 6 – 2 | 9 – 6 |
| 5/09 | @ Curwensville | 13 – 0 | 10 – 6 |
| 5/11 | PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA | 10 – 3 | 11 – 6 |
| 5/15 | @ DuBois | 8 – 0 | 12 – 6 |
| 5/16 | @ Altoona | 4 – 5 | 12 – 7 |
| 5/17 | @ Bald Eagle Area |