CLEARFIELD — Having reigned as champions the last two years, the Beech Creek Crickets didn’t panic when they fell behind Claysburg 3-0 after one inning and 5-1 after two in the Pennsylvania American Legion Division I Region 7 Tournament title game at the Lawrence Township Recreation Park Wednesday afternoon.
They closed to within one run going to the fifth, when they all but sealed the three-peat with a 10-run outburst.
The hard-hitting Crickets erupted for six hits, five of them doubles, and received seven free passes, four with the bases jammed, in the marathon half-inning, and Wyatt Koch made it a 16-5 Mercy Rule victory with a two-run homer in the sixth.
Winning pitcher Toner Corl accounted for four of Beech Creek’s 15 hits and drove in two runs.
Koch and Evan Prough checked in with two hits and three RBIs apiece, Landon Breon singled twice and had two RBIs, Zach Eck had a run-scoring single and two RBI walks, and Brandon Miller had a two-run double.
Corl pitched 5-2/3 innings, striking out four and giving up 12 hits and five runs, three earned. Reliever A.J. Smith allowed no runs in 1-1/3 innings.
Claysburg, which had eliminated Hempfield East in a late morning start, 7-2, tagged Corl for five hits in the first inning as Chase Smith and Josh McKnight drove in runs with doubles and Casey Winters had a sacrifice fly.
Cricket catcher Asher Corl thwarted a bigger inning for the Cambria County League champs by quickly recovering an errant pitch for an easy out when Smith dashed down the third base line.
Cory Houck, on his way to a four-for-four game at the plate, hiked Claysburg’s lead to 5-1 by belting a home run over the left field fence for two unearned runs in the second frame.
Claysburg posed serious threats in the next two innings, too, but Toner Corl was equal to the challenge.
He induced two groundouts and caught the next batter looking at strike three after Casey Winters singled and McKnight doubled to begin the third, and he wiggled out of a two-on, one-out jam via a comebacker and another groundout in the fourth.
After that, Claysburg could muster just one hit in each of the last three innings as neither Corl nor Smith walked a batter.
In the top of the fifth, Beech Creek (19-3) sent 16 batters to the plate, and they saw 76 pitches from four Claysburg (28-3) pitchers.
Highlighting the rally were back-to-back, two-run doubles by Prough and Miller after Eck had walked to forced in a run. Toner Corl and Talon Falls followed with RBI two-baggers to make it 11-5. The final three RBIs went to Breon, Eck and Prough on bases-loaded walks.
Needing one more run to shorten the game to seven innings, Koch came through with a high drive over the centerfield fence after Falls drew the 10th of 11 walks surrendered by five Claysburg hurlers.
Four players produced all but two of Claysburg 13 hits.
Joining Houck in the multi-hit column were McKnight with three doubles, Ryan Leonard with two doubles and Alex Hoenstine with two singles.
Beech Creek, which swept the Central Penn League regular season and playoff titles, will be heading to Ephrata in Lancaster County next week for the Pennsylvania American Legion Division I State Tournament.
BEECH CREEK — 16
Brandon Miller cf 5112, Toner Corl p-ss 6242, Talon Falls 3b-ss-3b 4211, Asher Corl c 2310, Wyatt Koch 1b 4223, Landon Breon lf 4222, Connor Bauman lf 0000, Trevor Hanna ss 2100, Mahlik Houtz 3b-2b 1000, Zach Eck rf 1113, Mitch Smith rf 1010, Evan Prough 2b 3223, A.J. Smith p 1000. TOTALS: 34 16 15 16.
CLAYSBURG — 5
Alex Hoenstine ss 4120, Cory Houck dh-3b-lf 4242, Hunter Klotz c 000, Chase Smith cf 4011, Casey Winters c-3b 4011, Josh McKnight 1b 4130, Ryan Leonard rf 4021, Rashadd Knorr pr 0000, Dakota Chamberlain 3b-p-3b 3000, Joel Musser lf 1000, Mike Speck lf 2000, Tanner Hunt p 0000, Kyle Glass p 1000, Larry Corle 2b 3100. TOTALS: 34 5 13 5.
Score by Innings
Beech Creek 012 1(10)2 0 – 16 15 1
Claysburg 320 0 0 0 0 – 5 13 1
E – Prough; Corle. DP – Claysburg 1 (Corle and McKnight). LOB – Beech Creek 10; Claysburg 8. 2B – Miller, T. Corl 2, Falls, A. Corl, Koch, Prough; Smith, McKnight 3, Leonard 2. SF – Winters. HR – Koch; Houck.
Pitching
Beech Creek – T. Corl 5-2/3 IP, 12 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 4 K; Smith 1-2/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K.
Claysburg – Nolan Walters 4 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 2 K; Adam McMonagle 1/3 IP, 3 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 0 K; Chamberlain 0+ IP (faced 4 batters in 5th), 3 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 0 K; Hunt 1/3 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 1 K; Glass 2-1/3 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 K.
HB – Walters 1 (Hanna), Glass 1 (A. Corl). WP – Walters 1, Chamberlain 1.
W – T. Corl. L – Walters.
Umpires – Dave Neal (plate), Jerry Zollars (first base) and Mike Kresovich (third base).
* * * * *
Claysburg avenged its first-round 6-5 loss to Hempfield East (21-6)with a 7-2 victory in the opener of the championship day doubleheader.
The winners staked McKnight to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first with Ryan Leonard’s two-run double the key blow.
After the District 31 (Westmoreland County) runners-up posted singletons in the fourth inning off McKnight and fifth off reliever and winning pitcher Luke Ebrhart, Winters neutralized them with his fourth home run of the tourney.
McKnight expanded the margin with a solo homer in the seventh and a run-scoring single in the eighth for a three-hit, three-RBI game.
Eberhart worked the final 4-1/3 innings, shutting out Hempfield East on four hits while fanning one and walking one.
McKnight had racked up six strikeouts in 4-2/3 innings. He walked four, hit two and allowed three hits.
Hempfield East 000 110 000 – 2 7 0
Claysburg 300 020 110 – 7 10 2
W – Luke Eberhart (4-1/3 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K), in relief of Josh McKnight (4-2/3 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 2 HB, 6 K).
L – Andrew Rosenberg (4-1/3 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 4 BB, 2 HB, 4 K), relieved by Branson Auckerman (3-2/3 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 HB, 2 K).
