DUBOIS — Clearfield Area High School senior right-hander Jake Sorbera went pitch-for-pitch against St. Marys standout Nate Beimel but wound up a tough-luck loser because of two unearned runs as the Flying Dutch ended the Bison’s season, 3-2, in the District 9 Class AAAA championship game at Showers Field Wednesday evening.
The loss was excruciating for the defending champion Bison because of how the No. 1-seeded Flying Dutch scored all of their runs, two on errors and one on a daring steal of home by Tim Beimel.
The game-winner in the bottom of the seventh inning was a heart-breaker that gave the Flying Dutch their first district title since 2000.
Tim Beimel streaked all the way from second base to just beat a relay throw to the plate after third baseman Harrison Peacock dove to spear Kael Azzato’s liner headed down the left field line but saw his attempt to double up the Flying Dutch speedster glance off second baseman Hayden Williams’ glove into short center field.
The stage had been set when Tim Beimel lined a single off the short right-center wall and Shane Price moved him up with a sacrifice bunt.
Sorbera was brilliant against a team with a .302 batting average and four hitters above .350.
He allowed only three hits, all of which turned into runs, while striking out five and walking one.
He had four 1-2-3 innings and was working so efficiently his final pitch-count total was 88.
Pitching coach Chris Peacock credited much of Sorbera’s success to a very effective changeup.
“You can’t throw a much better high school baseball game than Jake did,” said assistant coach Brandon Billotte, who teamed with Chris Peacock to guide the Bison in the absence of longtime head coach Sid Lansberry due to a family emergency.
“I think everybody that’s here would have to tip their hat and say we outpitched them,” Billotte added. “Couple plays here and there and the roles are reversed.”
The outcome boiled down to defense, for the Flying Dutch made all of their plays in the field to leave 10 Bison runners stranded, six in scoring position.
Clearfield’s lone clutch hit was Harrison Peacock’s two-out double off the center field wall that chased home Caullin Reed to briefly tie the game 1-1 in the top of the fourth inning. Reed had beaten out a bouncer down the third base line.
The only other hit off Nate Beimel was Sorbera’s two-out single through the middle on the lanky junior left-hander‘s last pitch as he reached the 100 limit.
Beimel struggled with control early and issued four walks but struck out eight, five with Bison on base.
“We got Beimel’s pitch count up early,” Billotte noted. “He was at 43 pitches after two innings, 60 after three. We had great at-bats. We really did.
“He’s a good pitcher and a guy like that, you’ve gotta work him. And we did that. That was kind of our game plan coming. We have a lot of young guys, and to show patience like that is a great sign.”
The Bison just couldn’t cash several opportunities, including the top of the seventh when Williams’ infield single and three consecutive walks to Eli Glass, Seth Bumbarger and Ty Bender by reliever Tim Beimel knotted the score for the second time before Jared Groll came on to induce a hard grounder by Sorbera for the final out.
In contrast, the Flying Dutch made the most of their few chances, the first two runs crossing with two outs.
In the first inning, Groll drilled an opposite-field single off the right-center wall, advanced to third on Nate Beimel’s groundout and scored when Barr tried to pick him off and couldn’t connect with Harrison Peacock, the ball trickling into foul territory.
In the fourth, Tim Beimel pounded a double to left center, the deepest part of the field, moved up on a wild pitch and made a perfect break to the plate on Barr’s throw back to Sorbera on ball four to Price.
That looked like the deciding marker until both teams scored again in the seventh, with Groll notching the win.
“We made some mistakes, and in these types of games, championship games, you’ve got to play 100 percent perfect baseball,” Billotte said. “We came up short on that just a little bit.
“I thought we had high energy. We had a really good week of practice. It’s tough, long layoff, to come back and find the same energy we had last week at Punxsy.
“It’s a tough loss, but to see the way these guys came together, they showed a lot of heart. And that’s big.
“Our seniors did a great job leading these guys tonight.”
Three-year regulars Sorbera, first baseman Seth Bumbarger and center fielder Reese Wilson and right fielder Alec Graham played in their final game. Tim Chelgren is the other senior.
Sorbera finished 4-3 for the third year in a row, posting a 1.59 earned run average for 44 innings to lower his career ERA to 2.33 for 120 innings with 93 strikeouts and 50 walks.
The Bison closed with a 12-6 record. They lost four games because of weather, two in the Mountain League where they wound up in third place at 7-5.
Glass, a junior, joined the Clearfield .500 Club with 26 hits in 52 official at-bats. He opened the season at shortstop but was moved to left field because of a shoulder injury that also impacted his trips to the mound, where he was 5-0 with a 1.09 ERA in seven appearances.
St. Marys will take a 15-6 record into the PIAA Class AAAA Tournament first round Monday against District 7 (WPIAL) runner-up Ringgold (16-4) at a site and time to be determined.
CLEARFIELD — 2
Reese Wilson cf 3100, Nate Barr c 4000, Eli Glass lf 1000, Seth Bumbarger 1b 3000, Alec Graham rf 0000, Ty Bender dh 3001, Jake Sorbera p 4010, Caullin Reed ss 1110, Harrison Peacock 3b 3011, Hayden Williams 2b 2010, Allan Myers ph 1000. TOTALS: 25 2 4 2.
ST. MARYS — 3
Brandon Sicheri lf-cf-lf 3000, Jared Groll ss-p 3110, Nate Beimel p-1b 3000, Tim Beimel cf-p-cf 3220, Matt Bellina 3b 0000, Shane Price dh 1000, Jesse McKee 1b-lf 2000, Kael Azzato 2b 1000, Hayden Tettis 2b-ss 2000, Brendon Rolley rf 2000, Jake Meeker c 2000. TOTALS: 22 3 3 0.
Score by Innings
Clearfield 000 100 1 – 2 4 2
St. Marys 100 100 1 – 3 3 0
E – Barr, Peacock. LOB – Clearfield 10; St. Marys 1. 2B – Peacock; T. Beimel. Sac – Price. SB – Wilson, Glass; Groll, T. Beimel.
Pitching
Clearfield – Sorbera 6-2/3 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K.
St. Marys – N. Beimel 5-2/3 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 8 K; T. Beimel 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 0 K; Groll 1/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K.
WP – Sorbera 1; N. Beimel 2.
W – Groll (6-0). L – Sorbera (4-3).
Umpires – Keith Lepionka (plate), Mike Campbell (first base), Chad Weaver (second base) and Terry Bean (third base).
Final 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 Semifinals
5/23 @ Punxsutawney 8 – 2 12 – 5
5/30 District 9 Finals
5/30 vs. St. Marys @ DuBois 2 – 3 12 – 6