HYDE — What was a terrific high school baseball game between Clearfield and undefeated Huntingdon, ranked No. 2 in the state by MaxPreps, ended in thrilling fashion for the Bison when Reese Wilson singled to drive in pinch-runner Karson Rumsky from second base for a 3-2 walk-off stunner at the Bison Sports Complex Wednesday afternoon.
“Certainly one of the best, biggest wins probably in a decade for us to upset a team like that, No. 2 in the state and flying high,” Clearfield coach Sid Lansberry said.
Outstanding pitching by Bison Hunter Hipps in his first varsity start and Bearcat Alex Mykut and two-run home runs by Bison Eli Glass and Bearcat Nick Holesa highlighted the errorless Mountain League thriller before Wilson came through in the clutch against reliever Casey Conner.
The senior center fielder and relief pitcher has been battling a slump and couldn’t have picked a better spot to break out after being dropped to the bottom of the batting order.
“Sometimes that helps when a guy’s struggling and you put him at No. 9,” Lansberry explained. “You get more fastballs. You get to relax a little bit. So, it paid off.”
Stepping to the plate with two runners aboard and two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, Wilson blasted what normally would have been at least a double to deep left center to plate Rumsky. The freshman, making his first varsity appearance after being called up from the middle of junior varsity game, was running for Harrison Peacock, who had lashed a double up the left center alley.
Making the game-winning hit even more special was the fact that Wilson was the pitcher of record after replacing Hipps on the bump with two outs and one Bearcat on base in the top of the seventh.
He needed only one pitch for the third out and, minutes later, one swing to earn his first win for the Bison.
Holesa, a Virginia Tech commit, had put Huntingdon (13-1, 9-1 ML) ahead 2-0 in the third inning by following up Nick Zanic’s second single with a monster homer over the center field fence.
One-out singles by Mykut and Drew Weglarz had the Bearcats in position for a possible big inning, but Hipps induced a forceout and escaped further trouble when left fielder Alec Graham made a difficult catch on Rece Ritchey’s line drive.
“Alec made some great catches out there in a tough sun field,” Lansberry said.
Hipps then set down the Bearcats in order over the next three innings and had retired 12 in a row before hitting the 100-pitch limit with a walk, his second, to Zanic that prompted Clearfield’s pitching change.
The junior lefthander gave up six hits and struck out four in a sparkling performance with only one inning at Brookville Tuesday on his chart.
“Great effort by Hipps,” Lansberry said. “I told him before the game, ‘If you just throw strikes, let ’em hit it and we’ll try to catch it.’
“And that’s what happened. He mixed his pitches well and kept the ball down. And had ’em out on their front foot with that offspeed stuff. Sometimes, that’s what it takes against a good team.
“He gave up some hits and some hard shots. A key was the fourth, fifth and sixth, only a few pitches.”
For five innings, it appeared Holesa’s homer would be all Mykut needed the way he was dealing with a wicked slider and a fastball that has been clocked at 90 miles per hour.
Clearfield’s only baserunners were Glass with a sharp single in the first inning and Caullin Reed via a walk in the fifth.
“He was cruising, like a man against boys,” Lansberry said. “That’s what it looked like for most of the game.”
The Millersville University recruit, who struck out 11, appeared headed for another easy inning in the sixth until, with two down, Nate Barr singled through the middle and Glass put a charge in one of Mykut’s hummers and deposited it over the left field fence to tie the score with his first career home run.
Wilson wrote the rest of the story in the seventh.
“That’s a great comeback,” Lansberry said. “It’s a big win. It takes some luck and some key hits, but we caught the ball and we didn’t make mistakes. Everything worked our way pretty much.”
He noted that with senior Jake Sorbera and Glass unable to pitch this week because of injuries, the Bison have gotten solid outings from sophomore Cade Walker in a 16-1 win over Tyrone Monday and freshman Hunter Dixon in a 14-4 victory at Brookville Tuesday and Hipps. Only Walker had made a previous start.
“Our top two can’t pitch, so we come up with three lefties from the jayvees, and we get three wins,” Lansberry said. “That’s amazing.”
Which perfectly describes the Bison’s ninth win in 12 games against a veteran team, top-ranked in Class AAA in the state, with seven players who have made commitments to play at NCAA Division I or Division II schools.
Clearfield will play Bald Eagle Area at Wingate Thursday.
Mountain League Standings —– Huntingdon 9-1, Bellefonte 7-3, Clearfield 6-3, Philipsburg-Osceola 5-4, Central 5-5, Bald Eagle Area 5-6, Tyrone 2-9, Penns Valley 1-9.
HUNTINGDON — 2
Nick Zanic 2b 3120, Nick Holesa ss 4112, Jared Showalter cf 3000, Alex Mykut p-3b 3010, Drew Weglarz lf 3020, Landon Fisher 1b 3000, Nick Troha c 0000, Rece Ritchey dh 2000, Nick Gearhart 3b 2000, Nate Fleming ph 1000, Casey Conner p 0000, Jacob Wagner rf 3000. TOTALS: 27 2 6 2.
CLEARFIELD — 3
Ty Bender rf 3000, Barr c 3110, Hunter Hipps p 0000, Cade Walker cf 0000, Eli Glass dh 3122, Seth Bumbarger 1b 3000, Harrison Peacock 3b 3010, Karson Rumsky pr 0100, Alec Graham lf 2000, Allan Myers ph 1000, Caullin Reed ss 2000, Hayden Williams 2b 2000, Reese Wilson cf-p 3011. TOTALS: 25 3 5 3.
Score by Innings
Huntingdon 002 000 0 – 2 6 0
Clearfield 000 002 1 – 3 5 0
LOB – Huntingdon 6; Clearfield 4. 2B – Peacock. HR – Holesa; Glass (1). SB – Zanic 3, Weglarz 1, Fisher 1.
Pitching
Huntingdon – Mykut 6-2/3 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 11 K; Conner 0+ IP (faced 2 batters in 7th), 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K.
Clearfield – Hipps 6-2/3 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K; Wilson 1/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K.
W – Wilson (1-1). L – Mykut.
Umpires – Gary Kost (plate) and A.J. Coval (bases).
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 3 – 4 6 – 3
4/30 TYRONE 16 – 1 7 – 3
5/01 @ Brookville 14 – 4 8 – 3
5/02 HUNTINGDON 3 – 2 9 – 3
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)