HYDE — The Clearfield and Punxsutawney schoolboy baseball teams will add another chapter to their District 9 Playoffs rivalry Wednesday when the third-seeded Bison begin defense of their 2017 Class AAAA championship in a semifinal game on the Chucks’ home diamond.
It’s doubtful the 4 p.m. duel at Rich Kuntz Memorial Field can be more exciting than last year when the No. 1 seeded Bison averted a devastating home loss with two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning and then scored a run in the 10th for an 8-7 win that ended the Chucks’ 13-year run as district kingpins.
Coach Sid Lansberry’s 46th Clearfield team followed up with a 12-2 Mercy Rule victory over Bradford to claim the program’s 13th district title.
Moving into position to repeat won’t be easy for the 11-5 Bison.
“I think it’ll be a typical Clearfield-Punxsy game, close,” Lansberry forecast. “We don’t know a lot about them, playing just one game against them and not having any statistics to see, but they’re always a good, fundamentally sound team, and they’ve got two good pitchers.”
The Chucks, who rated the No. 2 seed due to more power points because of the Class 6A and Class 5A teams on their schedule, are 10-8 with one of the losses 10-4 to the Bison.
Clearfield closed out that win Friday in the completion of their April 11 meeting that was halted by rain with the Bison ahead 6-2 going to the fourth inning.
The Bison also own a 10-3 win over Bradford, which nipped the Chucks 11-10 and, last week, 1-0.
Both teams defeated Brookville, Clearfield by 14-4 and Punxsy by 8-2 and 4-3.
Lansberry expects Brandon Matthews , a Youngstown State commit, or Logan Johnston to toe the rubber for the Chucks.
“Either one would be a formidable opponent,” he said. “We saw Matthews last year, and he’s capable of pitching a great game.”
Clearfield will counter with senior Jake Sorbera, who has a deceiving 3-2 record for seven appearances with six starts.
That’s because his earned run average for 37-1/3 innings is 1.69. He’s allowed 37 hits and nine walks with 28 strikeouts.
Junior Eli Glass is available for relief duty after missing three weeks because of an injury, and his stats are even more glittery with a 5-0 record and a 1.09 ERA. He’s worked 25-2/3 innings in seven outings and surrendered 16 hits, seven runs (four earned) and 10 walks with 32 strikeouts.
Senior Reese Wilson (1-1, 1.68 ERA) has pitched in late innings five times and sophomore southpaw Cade Walker (1-1, 4.44 ERA) has four appearances with two starts.
The mound staff, which boasts a 2.40 ERA, has held eight opponents to three runs or less and is a big reason the Bison are 4-2 in games decided by three runs or less.
“Our pitching has been pretty consistent over the year,” Lansberry said.
Offensively, the Bison have made the most of a .277 average as only three regulars are hitting above .250.
The top two are Glass at .489 with a team-high 23 hits, including nine doubles and two home runs, and sophomore Nate Barr at .377 with 20 hits.
Since Barr was moved up to the No. 2 spot, right in front of Glass, the two have triggered or been involved in many rallies, scoring 20 and 18 runs, respectively.
Clean-up batter Seth Bumbarger has benefited, registering a team-high 18 runs batted in. He’s hitting .311 with two homers.
Barr or sophomore Allan Myers will be behind the plate for Sorbera (.237, 11 RBIs), with Bumbarger at first base, Hayden Williams (.308 in 13 at-bats) at second, sophomore Caullin Reed (.214) at shortstop, sophomore Harrison Peacock at third base and Glass, senior Reese Wilson (.224, 10 RBIs) and junior Ty Bender (.250, 10 RBIs) in the outfield, left to right.
Senior Alec Graham will see action in the outfield or as a pinch-hitter, pinch-runner or courtesy runner.
“We need to get more production all the way down through the order,” Lansberry said. “We can’t leave a lot of guys on base.
“And we‘ve gotta play tight defense.”
The Bison have done just that for the most part with only 25 errors, less than two a game.
In the other semifinal, top seed St. Marys (13-6) will host Bradford (10-10).
The championship game will be played on Showers Field in DuBois May 30.
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 cancelled 9 – 3
5/07 CENTRAL cancelled 9 – 3
5/08 PENNS VALLEY 2 – 1 10 – 3
5/09 BELLEFONTE 3 – 9 10 – 4
5/11 @ Philipsburg-Osceola 1 – 7 10 – 5
5/14 DUBOIS cancelled 10 – 5
5/15 CURWENSVILLE cancelled 10 – 5
5/16 BELLEFONTE cancelled 10 – 5
5/17 @ Hollidaysbug cancelled 10 – 5
5/18 @ Punxsutawney (susp. 4/11) 10 – 4 11 – 5
5/23 District 9 AAAA Playoffs
5/23 @ Punxsutawney