HYDE — Senior Eli Glass pitched a complete game and belted what might well have been a history-making grand slam home run to lead the Clearfield Area High School baseball team past Penns Valley 6-2 at the Bison Sports Complex Monday afternoon.
His third-inning roundtripper put the Bison in front 4-1 on their way to leveling their record at 3-3.
The blast was Glass’ second in three games with the bases full, a feat that might be unprecedented for the CAHS program.
Longtime coach Sid Lansberry couldn’t recall any Bison slugger hitting more than one grand slam in a season, and he’s played, watched and coached Red and Black teams for more than 50 years.
Glass spaced seven hits and struck out seven Rams for his second win in three starts. He issued two walks with two outs in the seventh inning.
Both of Penns Valley’s runs were unearned, so the right-hander’s earned run average dipped to 0.89.
“Eli pitched a good game,” Lansberry said. “He had much better control than against P-O (Philipsburg-Osceola) the other night.
“But Penns Valley had some good swings on his fastball. They hit the ball hard at times, and they’re pretty aggressive hitters, too.
“They’re dangerous, and on a field like this, with the wind blowing out, you’re never safe.”
Glass didn’t need any help from the wind with his homer, which he unloaded to left center after Karson Rumsky sliced a single to right field, Caullin Reed drew a free pass from Ram starter Logan Snyder and Nate Barr drilled a single to center.
The Rams had led 1-0 via a gift run in the second frame when Dylan Treaster singled, stole second and scored on a two-out throwing error after Bison right fielder Nick Domico roamed into right center to rob Aaron Tobias of an extra base hit with a leaping, backhanded grab.
Clearfield’s second misplay on Malachi Thompson’s bunt hit in the fifth inning proved costly, too, when Cole Breon cracked a two-out double to right center for the RBI.
However, hot-hitting Hayden Williams came through in a big way in the bottom half to give Glass and the Bison more of a cushion.
With one out, Barr beat out a grounder to deep short and Glass walked and was replaced by courtesy runner Kyle Elensky. A wild pitch moved both runners up a base during one of Snyder’s two strikeouts.
Williams then sent a sharp grounder into left field for two RBIs. His second single hiked his batting average to .556.
“That’s a key hit,” Lansberry said. “Cause they had just scored and now we’re up only 4-2. If we don’t score that inning, that’s a dangerous situation. That’s a clutch hit to bring in two runs and make it a more comfortable lead.”
Penns Valley (3-4) did have pairs of runners aboard in the last two innings, and both ended with line drives to the outfield.
Hunter Hipps was a third Bison with two hits and would have had a perfect game at the plate if not for second baseman Calvin Russell’s diving stop of his hard grounder in the third inning.
Lansberry was pleased see Hipps, Rumsky and Allan Myers deliver four hits at the bottom of the batting order.
“That’s good, because we haven’t been getting that,” he said. “We’ve got to get more consistency up and down the order.”
The Bison will be back in action Tuesday when Brookville comes calling for a non-league at 4:30 p.m.
Mountain League standings — Tyrone 5-0, Philipsburg-Osceola 4-0, Central 3-2, Clearfield 2-3, Bellefonte 2-3, Bald Eagle Area 1-3, Penns Valley 1-4, Huntingdon 1-4.
PENNS VALLEY — 2
Aiden Brinker c 0000, Colby Sweitzer dh 0000, Cole Breon ss 3021, Cameron Shaffer, cf 3010, Logan Snyder p 3000, Jesse Darlington 3b 1000, Dylan Treaster 1b 3120, Aaron Tobias 3b-p 3000, Calvin Russell 2b 3010, Greyson Wolfe rf 3000, Malachi Thompson lf 3110. TOTALS: 29 2 7 1.
CLEARFIELD — 6
Caullin Reed ss 2100, Nate Barr cf 4220, Eli Glass p 2214, Cade Walker lf 3000, Hayden Williams 2b 3022, Harrison Peacock 3b 3000, Allan Myers c 3010, Nick Domico rf 0000, Hunter Hipps dh 3020, Karson Rumsky 1b 3110. TOTALS: 26 6 9 6.
Score by Innings
Penns Valley 010 010 0 – 2 7 1
Clearfield 004 020 x – 6 9 2
E – Breon; Glass, Peacock. DP – Penns Valley 2 (). LOB – Penns Valley 8; Clearfield 5. 2B – Breon. HR – Glass (2). SB – Breon 2, Treaster; Hipps.
Pitching
Penns Valley – Snyder 5 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 3 BB, 1 K; Tobias 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K.
Clearfield – Glass 7 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K.
WP – Snyder 2.
W – Glass (2-0). L – Snyder.
Umpires – Dave Neal (plate) and Mark Zimmerman (bases).
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 5 – 2 2 – 2
4/05 @ Tyrone ppd. 2 – 2
4/06 @ Tyrone 2 – 3, 9 inn. 2 – 3
4/08 PENNS VALLEY 6 – 2 3 – 3
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