HYDE — The Clearfield Area High School baseball team may have knocked longtime District 9 Class AAA king Punxsutawney off the throne with a heart-stopping 8-7, 10-inning victory last Wednesday, but the Bison didn’t exactly unseat the Chucks.
That will require one more win — against the team coach Sid Lansberry was sure the Bison would see in the first round when he was convinced they had secured the No. 1 seed at the end of the regular season before being informed he had miscalculated schedule points for St. Marys.
Standing in the No. 2-seeded Bison’s path is upstart Bradford, which upended top seed St. Marys 3-2 in last week’s other semifinal.
The two teams, who had a regular-season game postponed and then cancelled the first week of this month, will meet Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. on Showers Field in DuBois, and Lansberry anticipates the first District 9 Class AAAA championship game for the PIAA’s new six-classification format to be every bit as much of a stern test for his 14-7 Bison.
“I’m looking for a close, tight, low-scoring game,” Lansberry said. “They beat St. Marys earlier and then had a 3-2 game with them that they lost, so that District 9 game was not an upset as far as I’m concerned. That could have gone either way. St. Marys was not a shoo-in.”
Like Punxsy, No. 4 seed Bradford entered the tourney with a losing record, 7-12, including 2-4 against Punxsy, DuBois and Brookville compared to Clearfield’s 4-0 sweep of those three District 9 opponents.
However, the Owls’ frontline pitching of junior Danny Manion and senior Kyle Kirk makes them a tough out, according to Lansberry.
“The one thing that bothers me is both those guys have earned run averages under three,” he pointed out.
Manion’s is down to 2.12 after six-hitting St. Marys to give Bradford a shot at its first title in the 25-year history of the program.
The expected starter also faced the Flying Dutchmen in 4-0 and 3-2 losses, allowing only two earned runs in 9-2/3 innings.
In nine appearances, Manion has worked 43 innings with 44 strikeouts and 19 walks while giving up 44 hits and 13 earned runs.
“Many times, good pitching stops good hitting, and his stats indicate he’s a pretty good pitcher,” Lansberry said. “He has a strikeout an inning and his strikeout-to-walk ratio is pretty good. He’s started three or four of the big games they’ve won.
“And the other kid has pitched a couple good games, too.”
One was a 2-0 win against St. Marys May 4 when he pitched a three-hitter with seven strikeouts.
Kirk, who sports a 2.74 ERA, has fanned 23 and surrendered just 22 hits in 30-2/3 innings over nine outings.
On the flip side, the Owls have experienced season-long troubles at the plate.
Their batting average is .232 with Manion the lone regular hitting above .265.
He has 20 hits, half of them doubles, for a .377 average with a team-high 10 runs driven in.
Kirk is next at .265 on 13 hits with nine RBIs, followed by freshman infielder/pitcher Peyton Manion at .250 with seven RBIs, freshman infielder Tyler Gigliotti at .241, freshman catcher Caleb Nuzzo at .235, senior outfielder Jack Pecora at .222 with eight RBIs and junior infielder Thomas Guay at .205 with nine hits and nine RBIs.
Pecora’s RBI triple and Peyton Manion’s ensuing single in the first inning provided the getaway Bradford needed to end St. Marys’ season behind Danny Manion’s complete game effort with five strikeouts and one walk.
For Clearfield to claim the district crown for the first time since 2003, it’s a matter of keep on keeping’ on.
The Bison were 1-3 with seven postponements in the first two weeks of the season and sat 6-6 before rolling into the playoffs with seven wins in eight games.
Lansberry won’t declare a starting pitcher, maintaining that will be a game-day decision.
He can opt for senior Will Myers (5-2, 3.21 ERA) or junior Jake Sorbera (3-2, 2.33 ERA) if he chooses to save senior Tommy Hazel (3-1, 1.45 ERA) for late-inning relief work.
Had it not been for two errors that cost the Bison three unearned runs in the fifth inning against Punxsy, Sorbera would have taken a four-hitter and a 4-1 lead into the sixth.
Hazel was summoned from left field in the sixth and turned in a terrific relief stint, 4-1/3 two-hit, shutout innings with seven strikeouts and two walks.
Offensively, the Bison have recorded five double-digit outputs in a row to add 35 points to their overall average, now at .299.
Catcher Zane Morgan has wielded the hottest bat with a nine-game hitting streak that includes 15 safeties in the last six games that have soared his average nearly 100 points to .413.
Providing balance throughout the order are Hazel (.349), shortstop-third baseman Eli Glass (.309), center fielder Reese Wilson (.305), second baseman Thayne Morgan (.296) and right fielder Ty Bender (.290), first baseman Seth Bumbarger (.262) and Myers (.236), who anchors the infield at short when not on the mound.
The RBI leaders are Hazel (19), Glass (18), Zane Morgan (16), Bender (13), Myers (12) and Wilson (11).
Freshman designated hitter Allan Myers is hitting at a .500 clip in five games since being moved up from the junior varsity.
“I think an important thing is to score early, get the lead and then build on that,” Lansberry said. “And, as always, play good defense. You’ve gotta do that at Showers Field.”
The District 9 champ will advance to the PIAA Class AAAA Tournament’s opening round Monday against the loser of the District 7 (WPIAL) title game between Blackhawk (20-2) and South Park (20-2) booked for Tuesday night at Wild Things Park in Washington.
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 | 14 – 3 | 13 – 7 |
5/24 | District 9 AAAA Semifinals | ||
5/24 | vs. PUNXSUTAWNEY | 8 – 7, 10 inn. | 14 – 7 |
5/31 | District 9 AAAA Finals | ||
5/31 | vs. Bradford (@ DuBois) |