HYDE — Trey Shaw singled to send Carson Jones home from third base to break up a pitcher’s duel in the top of the seventh inning and give Philipsburg-Osceola a 2-1 squeaker over Clearfield in high school baseball action at the Bison Sports Complex Thursday afternoon.
Thanks to a botched double play in the bottom of the frame, the Bison had the tying and winning runs aboard, but Jones relieved Ryan Whitehead and induced a game-ending twinkilling to keep the Mounties undefeated after three games, their best start in years.
They’re tied with surprising Tyrone atop the Mountain League, and Whitehead is responsible for two of their wins.
The lanky right-hander held the Bison to six hits while striking out six and walking only before reaching the 100-pitch limit in the last inning.
“Whitehead did a great job,” Clearfield coach Sid Lansberry acknowledged. “He throws hard, and he throws strikes.
“But I’m disappointed. We didn’t have good at-bats. Took too many strikes, which is unusual. Got behind in the count.”
Bison starter Eli Glass dueled Whitehead for four innings, departing because of a high pitch count locked in a 1-1 tie. He struck out six, walked four and gave up three hits.
Cade Walker came on in relief and turned in two solid innings before Jones led off the last inning with a double to deep right field, Ryan Kephart dropped down a well-placed sacrifice bunt that he beat out for a hit and, following a groundout, Shaw lined his game-winner to center.
Walker gave the Bison life with an opposite-field single to left to start the lower seventh. Two unsuccessful sac bunt attempts and one out later, Whitehead gloved Hayden Williams’ one-hopper and fired to second for a potential game-ending DP, but the throw was dropped.
So, the Bison were a hit away from at least prolonging what Lansberry described as a very good pitcher’s duel with two evenly-matched teams.
That didn’t materialize, though.
Enter Jones, whose third pitch resulted in a comebacker that became the rally-stopping DP.
“It came down to they executed a sac bunt, and we failed to do that twice,” Lansberry said. “That cost us, I think.”
Clearfield (1-2) did grab a short-lived lead in the bottom of the second inning.
Allan Myers, aboard via a forceout after Harrison Peacock singled, moved into scoring position on Walker’s liner to center and scored when Williams punched a single into right field.
The Mounties got even with two outs in the third. Shaw walked and circled the sacks when Isaiah Dixon belted the longest single in BSC history to the center field fence.
Pitching then dominated before the Bison fell victims of late offense by their opponent for the second game in a row.
“It was a very tough loss,” Lansberry said. “You hold a team to two runs, you should win.
The Bison will host Curwensville in a 4:30 p.m. non-league game Thursday.
Mountain League standings – Philipsburg-Osceola 3-0, Tyrone 3-0, Central 3-1, Clearfield 1-2, Bald Eagle Area 1-2, Penns Valley 1-2, Huntingdon 1-3, Bellefonte 0-3.
PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA — 2
Ryan Kephart ss 4020, Landon McDonald 2b 4000, Trey Shaw c 3121, Isaiah Dixon 1b 4011, Quinten Moslak rf 0000, Micah Martin cf 3000, Zack Wagner 3b 0000, Jeremy Whitehead dh 3000, Ryan Whitehead p 2000, Bubba Slogosky lf 3000, Carson Jones rf-p 2110. TOTALS: 28 2 6 2.
CLEARFIELD — 1
Caullin Reed ss 3000, Nate Barr 3010, Eli Glass p-1b 3010, Harrison Peacock 3b 3010, Allan Myers c 3100, Cade Walker lf-p 3020, Nick Domico rf 0000, Hunter Hipps dh 3000, Hayden Williams 2b 2011, Karson Rumsky 1b-lf 3000. TOTALS: 26 1 6 1.
Score by Innings
Philipsburg-Osceola 001 000 1 – 2 6 1
Clearfield 010 000 0 – 1 6 1
E – Kephart; Peacock. DP – Philipsburg-Osceola 1 (Jones, Kephart and R. Whitehead). CS – Williams (by Shaw).
Pitching
Philipsburg-Osceola – R. Whitehead 6-1/3 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K; Jones 2/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K.
Clearfield – Glass 4 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 6 K; Walker 3 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K.
W – R. Whitehead (2-0). L – Walker (0-1). Sv – Jones (1).
Bison Scoreboard:
Date Opponent Score Record
3/25 @ Bald Eagle Area 10 – 1 1 – 0
3/28 @ Huntingdon 6 – 8 1 – 1
4/02 PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA 1 – 2 1 – 2
4/04 CURWENSVILLE
4/05 @ Tyrone
4/08 PENNS VALLEY
4/09 BROOKVILLE
4/11 @ Central
4/16 BELLEFONTE
4/18 BALD EAGLE AREA
4/23 HUNTINGDON
4/25 @ Philipsburg-Osceola
4/29 PUNXSUTAWNEY
4/30 TYRONE
5/03 @ Penns Valley
5/06 CENTRAL
5/08 @ Bradford
5/09 @ Bellefonte
5/13 @ Curwensville
5/16 @ DuBois