CURWENSVILLE — The baseball season is nearing the halfway point for a majority of the high schools across the area, and many are looking at their schedule, marking out the games that are important over the next few weeks. Some are league games, others are make ups from rain outs earlier in the season. But, a couple are marked because it’s a rivalry.
The Golden Tide of Curwensville hosted a rivalry game on Monday afternoon. The opposition didn’t have to travel far to head to the field. Making the short trip down Rt. 879 was the Clearfield Bison.
Each squad was prepared, and it did not take long for one to execute some dominance.
The Bison came in and took the lead early, and never yielded. A four-run first inning padded the lead in quick fashion, and excellent pitching ensured it wouldn’t go away. Clearfield handed the Tide it’s second-straight loss in a 7-2 final.
Curwensville’s Avery Francisco got the nod to start the game for the Tide, but things quickly took a turn in the Bison’s favor. A lead-off error by the Tide put Reese Wilson on first, then he stole second while Nate Barr was at bat. Barr did not let the at-bat go to waste, as he singled into left field to bring Wilson home for the game’s opening run. Eli Glass then got struck while at bat, putting runners on first and second. It wasn’t until Seth Bumbarger flew out to center field that the first out was recorded in the inning.
Both Barr and Glass advanced bases on a wild pitch, but Barr added the next run when Allan Myers ground out to Noah VonGunden, who threw to Bryce TImko for the second out of the game.
Jake Sorbera had the best hit of the inning, blasting a 1-1 pitch to the left field wall, bringing in both Glass and Ty Bender. Half an inning in, the Tide found themselves in a 4-0 hole, and needing some offense.
Clearfield knew it needed to have just as strong an outing on defense as they did at the plate. Glass got the start for the Bison, and his first inning was an indication of exactly what the game entailed. Glass tossed just 13 pitches in the inning, giving up just a single to Ralph Evans, but struck out two, closing out the inning and starting off one of his best outings of the season.
Glass started the game despite having started on Friday. Head coach Sid Lansberry was ecstatic of his pitcher’s performance considering the quick turnaround.
“He (Glass) was a warrior today. He did that on just two days rest,” he said. “He just pitched a great game on Friday, threw 75 pitches then. Today he pitched 100. He didn’t have his best stuff, but he was gutsy.”
Clearfield’s fifth run of the game came one inning later when Bumbarger hammered a deep single to center field, bringing Barr to home plate for the second straight inning. At the end of the second inning, with the score 5-0, Curwensville head coach Tom Harzinski elected to make some changes in the lineup, swapping Francisco with Christian Bakaysa, who started in right field. Francisco’s day ended with just two innings of work, but his five runs, only one earned, gave him the loss on the afternoon.
Bakaysa had a better outing on the mound, going two and a third innings, giving up just one earned run.
Harzinski acknowledged the first inning spelled the end for his team, saying, “We gave them a bunch of unearned runs in the first and second inning. I thought we hit the ball well today, but they came up with some clutch hitting.”
Curwensville finally got on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning when Josh Terry hit a shallow single to left field to bring Jake McCracken to the plate.
As the game wore on, Lansberry could see one flaw in his team, and it was a flaw that his team experienced a lot in the 2018 campaign.
“I think we left too many men on base. We can’t keep doing that. We keep shooting ourselves in the foot, and we can’t keep doing that,” Lansberry said. “It catches up to you, and Curwensville is a much improved team. Their pitchers did well today.
“We didn’t hit the ball very well today; we haven’t been hitting well lately. Give them credit. We play them again this year, and it could be quite different.”
Both teams added runs in the fifth inning. Clearfield’s Sorbera scored the Bison’s sixth run thanks to an RBI-single from Caullin Reed. In the bottom half of the inning, an RBI-single by McCracken brought Bryce Timko home, making the score 6-2.
Lansberry was quick to note that the game was much different after the first inning, as both teams were playing similar games, and it could have gone either way.
“Those four runs early, they made all the difference,” he said. “Without those four, it’s a much different ball game. Again, they’d be right in it. Without those runs, it wouldn’t be a runaway, that’s for sure.”
The final run of the game came in the sixth inning on an RBI-single by Sorbera, plating Bumbarger to end the scoring.
With one out in the sixth inning, Lansberry pulled Glass after five and a third innings of work, yielding only one earned run, striking out 12 batters in a winning effort.
Harzinski afterwards was already looking ahead to the next game, while taking away a lot of positives from his bullpen of pitchers that finished the game after Francisco was pulled.
“Our pitching staff did great. They kept us in the game,” he said. “Brock (Heitsenrether) and Christian came in, and did what they needed to do. I was pleasantly surprised with how we pitched today.
“We need to bounce back, and that’s what we talked about out there (after the game).”
Curwensville (5-4) heads on the road Tuesday afternoon for a 4:30 p.m. first pitch against the Brockway Rovers. Clearfield (6-1) looks to extend its winning streak to seven games as well on Tuesday afternoon when they host a Mountain League contest against the Huntingdon Bearcats at 4:15 p.m.
SCORE BY INNING
Clearfield 410 011 0 – 7 11 1
Curwensville 000 110 0 – 2 8 1
Clearfield – 7
Wilson CF/P 5100, Barr C 4221, Glass P 1010, Graham PR/PH 1110, Bumbarger 1B 3111, Bender RF 3110, Myers DH 4001, Sorbera LF 4133, Peacock 3B 4010, Reed SS 3011. TOTALS 32 7 11 7.
Curwensville – 2
Terry CF 4011, Evans 2B 3020, Francisco P/RF 4000, Timko 1B 3110, VonGunden SS 4000, McCracken LF 4131, Brewer DH 3010, Farley 3B 2000, Bakaysa RF/P 2000, Heitsenrether P 1000. TOTALS 30 2 8 2.
LOB: Clfd -11, Cville -10. E: Peacock/VonGunden. 2B: Bender, Sorbera/Brewer, McCracken. HBP: Barr, Glass/Evans. SB: Wilson, Barr, Reed.
PITCHING
Clearfield: Glass-5.2 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 12 SO, 2 BB; Wilson-1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 SO, 0 BB.
Curwensville: Francisco-2 IP, 3 H, 5 R, 1 ER, 4 SO, 2 BB; Bakaysa-2.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 SO, 2 BB; Heitsenrether-2.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 SO, 2 BB.
WP-Glass (4-0). LP-Francisco (0-3).
