BELLEFONTE — The Clearfield Area High School baseball team seemed poised to pad its winning streak to seven games with a three-run lead going to the bottom of the seventh inning Friday, but Bellefonte rallied to pull out a 9-8 Mountain League win.
The Red Raiders, whose only losses in 10 games were 4-3 and 2-1 to undefeated Huntingdon, tied it up against Bison starter Jake Sorbera on a double by Dillon Deitrich and consecutive singles by Cade Forney, CJ Funk and Eric Peggs.
After Reese Wilson relieved and got one out, two errors around two walks gave the Red Raiders the walk-off victory.
Clearfield scored the first two runs of the game in the third inning on a Bellefonte throwing error and Nate Barr’s RBI groundout after Allan Myers walked and Alec Graham beat out a sacrifice bunt for a hit.
The Bison held a 4-1 lead after their next at-bats with Sorbera reaching on a misplay, Harrison Peacock singling, Myers drawing a free pass and Graham bouncing into a groundout for an RBI.
In the lower fourth, the Red Raiders erased their deficit on a two-run homer by Bobby Marsh and a solo homer by Dan Catchmark.
Back came the Bison again as they turned three walks by Seth Shuey, who relieved ace Adam Armstrong in the fourth, into a 7-4 advantage on Sorbera’s run-scoring single, Peacock’s RBI forceout and a sacrifice fly by Myers.
Funk belted a homer for Bellefonte in the bottom of the fifth, but Seth Bumbarger restored the three-run lead for Clearfield with his first home run of the season in the top of the seventh, setting the stage for the home team’s winning rally.
The Bison managed only four hits and were guilty of five errors in what was a very uncharacteristic performance considering how they played during their six-game win streak.
Fortney and Funk each had three of the 13 hits off Sorbera, who had surrendered only 18 in 22-2/3 innings over four previous starts. He struck out two and walked one.
The Bison will travel to Martinsburg Saturday for a 1 p.m. makeup game with Central.
Mountain League Standings — Huntingdon 8-0, Bellefonte 6-2, Clearfield 4-2, Bald Eagle Area 5-5, Philipsburg-Osceola 3-3, Central 3-4, Tyrone 1-6, Penns Valley 0-8.
CLEARFIELD — 8
Reese Wilson cf-p 2000, Nate Barr c 4001, Eli Glass ss 3100, Seth Bumbarger 1b 3211, Ty Bender rf 3100, Jake Sorbera p-cf 4111, Harrison Peacock 3b 4111, Hayden Williams 2b 0000, Allan Myers dh 0101, Alec Graham lf 3111. TOTALS: 26 8 4 6.
BELLEFONTE — 9
Dillon Dietrich ss 3210, Cade Fortney cf 4131, CJ Funk rf 4231, Adam Armstrong p 0000, Seth Shuey p 0000, Eric Peggs dh 4022, Colton Burd c 4210, Bobby Marsh 1b 3112, CJ Lauck 3b 3000, Dan Catchmark lf 4112, Nick Capparelle 2b 3010. TOTALS: 32 9 13 8.
Score by Innings
Clearfield 002 230 1 – 8 4 5
Bellefonte 001 310 4 – 9 13 3
E – Glass 3, Sorbera, Williams; Deitrich, Burd, Marsh. LOB – Clearfield 5; Bellefonte 7. 2B – Deitrich, Burd. HR – Bumbarger (1); Funk, Marsh, Catchmark. SF – Myers. SB – Graham.
Pitching
Clearfield – Sorbera 6+ IP (faced 4 batters in 7th), 13 H, 9 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 2 K; Wilson 1/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 0 K.
Bellefonte – Armstrong 3-2/3 IP, 2 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 6 K; Shuey 3-1/3 IP, 2 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 3 K.
W – Shuey. L – Sobera (2-2).
Bison Scoreboard:
Date Opponent Score Record
3/27 @ Central ppd. 0 – 0
3/28 @ Central ppd. 0 – 0
3/31 @ Huntingdon 1 – 5 0 – 1
4/03 BELLEFONTE ppd. 0 – 1
4/05 @ Tyrone ppd. 0 – 1
4/06 BELLEFONTE ppd. 0 – 1
4/09 @ Central ppd. 0 – 1
4/10 BALD EAGLE AREA 4 – 2 1 – 1
4/11 @ Punxsutawney susp. 1 – 1
4/13 @ Penns Valley 3 – 0 2 -1
4/14 @ Tyrone 8 – 7 3 – 1
4/16 PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA ppd. 3 – 1
4/19 CENTRAL ppd. 3 – 1
4/20 BRADFORD 10 – 3 4 – 1
4/21 PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA 5 – 0 5 – 1
4/23 @ Curwensville 7 – 2 6 – 1
4/24 HUNTINGDON ppd. 6 – 1
4/27 @ Bellefonte 8 – 9 6 – 2
4/28 @ Central
4/30 TYRONE
5/01 @ Brookville
5/02 HUNTINGDON
5/03 @ Bald Eagle Area
5/07 CENTRAL
5/08 PENNS VALLEY
5/09 BELLEFONTE
5/11 @ Philipsburg-Osceola
5/14 DUBOIS
5/15 CURWENSVILLE
5/18 @ Punxsutawney (susp 4/11)