BELLEFONTE — Unable to come up with a clutch hit in the middle innings, the Clearfield Area High School baseball team suffered an 8-0 loss to Bellefonte and ace pitcher Ashton Wetzler in a Mountain League makeup game on John Montgomery Ward Field in Governors’ Park Wednesday.
The fast-working senior right-hander fashioned a six-hitter with nine strikeouts and only one walk to lower his earned run average to 0.75 while halting a three-game winning streak by the Bison, who finished the league’s first cycle at 3-4.
“That kid’s been pitching against these kids since they were 11 and 12, and he’s been a nemesis all the way up through,” Bison coach Sid Lansberry said. “They’ve never hit him very well.”
Wetzler, who was 6-2 with a 1.59 ERA last year, retired the first eight batters before Karson Rumsky lined a single to right field in the third inning.
When Caullin Reed smashed a hard grounder off first baseman Bobby Marsh’s glove for another hit, the Bison were poised to erase a 1-0 deficit. However, right fielder Nick Catalano speared Nate Barr’s line drive for the third out.
The Red Raiders (4-3) then parlayed a hit batsman and three hits into three runs. CJ Funk singled across one run, sprinted to third base on Derek Fravel’s single to right and scored on Marsh’s sacrifice fly to deep center. Seth Shuey followed with an RBI double to deep left center.
Wetzler stranded two more runners in the fourth with two punchouts and was bailed out of a bases-loaded, one out jam in the fifth when second baseman Nick Capparelle turned Eli Glass’ bouncer into a double play by quickly tagging Nate Barr and firing to first.
The Clearfield threat was the result of singles by Hunter Hipps, Reed and Barr.
Wetzler closed out his shutout in style with his third and fourth 1-2-3 innings.
Funk, a University of Pittsburgh commit who slugged nine home runs last spring, padded the margin to 6-0 with a two-run dinger to deep right center in the lower fifth.
The Red Raiders added their final two runs in the sixth on Capparelle’s RBI single and a Bison error.
“That’s a good team,” Lansberry said. “I’m not sure how they lost three games.”
Two were one-run outcomes against Tyrone and Philipsburg-Osceola, which are separated by one game atop the ML standings.
Glass was tagged with the loss that was his first in eight decisions dating back to the start of last season.
He had five strikeouts and allowed seven hits and six earned runs. He walked one Red Raider and hit two, all of whom came around to score.
“Eli gave us what we needed, a complete game, because that saves our pitching for (Thursday),” Lansberry said. “And, overall, I thought we played pretty good defense.”
Clearfield (5-4) begins its second go-round in the league with a home game against Bald Eagle Area Thursday at 4:30 p.m.
Mountain League standings — Tyrone 7-0, Philipsburg-Osceola 6-1, Bellefonte 4-3, Clearfield 3-4, Central 3-4, Huntingdon 3-4, Bald Eagle Area 1-6, Penns Valley 1-6.
CLEARFIELD — 0
Caullin Reed ss 3020, Nate Barr cf 3010, Eli Glass 3000, Hayden Williams 2b-3b 3010, Allan Myers c 2000, Cade Walker lf3000, Harrison Peacock 3b 2000, Kyle Elensky 2b 1000, Hunter Hipps rf 3010, Karson Rumsky 1b 2010, Nick Domico ph 1000. TOTALS: 26 0 6 0.
BELLEFONTE — 8
Nick Capparelle 2b 3121, CJ Funk cf 4223, Ashton Wetzler p 0000, Derek Fravel dh 3110, Bobby Marsh 1b 1101, Seth Shuey lf 2011, CJ Lauck 3b 3000, Colton Burd c 3110, Nick Catalano rf 2100, Dylan Young cf 2100. TOTALS: 23 8 7 6.
Score by Innings
Clearfield 000 000 0 – 0 6 2
Bellefonte 013 022 x – 8 7 0
E – Myers, Peacock. DP – Bellefonte 1 (Capparelle and Marsh). LOB – Clearfield 6; Bellefonte 3. 2B – Shuey. HR – Funk.
Sac – Capparelle, Shuey. SF – Marsh. SB – Capparelle, Burd.
Pitching
Clearfield – Glass 6 IP, 7 H, 8 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 5 K.
Bellefonte – Wetzler 7 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 9 K.
HB – Glass 2 (). WP – Glass 1.
W – Wetzler (2-1). L – Glass (2-1).
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 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 22 – 12 4 – 3
4/11 @ Central 10 – 4 5 – 3
4/16 BELLEFONTE ppd. 5 – 3
4/17 @ Bellefonte 0 – 8 5 – 4
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