HYDE — The Clearfield Area High School baseball team suffered its fourth one-run loss of the season Monday, and the latest stands as the most frustrating.
The Bison couldn’t hold off Punxsutawney after jumping out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning and wound up on the wrong end of a 6-5 final at the Bison Sports Complex.
“This is a very disappointing loss,” Clearfield coach Sid Lansberry said. “You get up four runs and you just coast. No killer instinct to try to get more runs. Kind of laid back. And it caught up to us.”
The outcome might turn out to be crucial when seeding time for the District 9 Class AAAA Playoffs rolls around as the Bison fell to 7-6 while the Chucks moved to 7-5.
For the fifth game in a row, the Bison were limited to single-digit hits, and three of their five singles off starter and winner Isaac Knarr never reached the outfield.
“It continues on,” Lansberry said of the team’s hitting funk. “You can’t win that way.”
For a while, it looked like the Bison could pull out a third win in that stretch, though.
An error, Nate Barr’s line single to left field, a walk and a hit batsman gave them the first run, with Hayden Williams getting the RBI.
Driving in the other three runs were Harrison Peacock with a groundout, Allan Myers with a sharp grounder that third baseman Dylan Ishman backhanded but had no play and Cade Walker with a bullet to right field.
Knarr prevented an even bigger rally via one of his three strikeouts and a flyout.
The sidearm-slinging right-hander completely shut down the Bison until the fifth, when infield hits by Barr and Williams around a Punxsy miscue had runners on the corners for Peacock, who picked up his second RBI with another groundout.
However, the Chucks had charged in front 6-4 by then.
They got back into the non-league game by cashing three consecutive walks by Eli Glass in the third inning. Ishman singled to right center for two RBIs, and Derek Huey’s groundout made it 4-3.
“Eli didn’t have his best stuff, obviously,” Lansberry said. “He couldn’t find the plate. That hurt, but you’ve gotta have more than four or five runs.”
The Chucks took advantage of two more walks around a Bison error on Alec Greenblatt’s sacrifice bunt to take the lead in the top of the fifth.
After Hunter Dixon came on in relief, Ishman tied the score with a single to right, Huey looped a single to right for the go-ahead run and, following a double play on Andrew Britton’s liner to third baseman Peacock, Sheldon Young whacked a double to deep right center to plate what proved to be the winning run.
Dixon faced only three batters in each of the last two frames, thanks to the Bison’s third twinkilling in the seventh, to finish his three-inning stint allowing three hits and one unearned run. He had one strikeout and one walk.
“He’s our tough-luck pitcher,” Lansberry said. “He always does a pretty decent job, but he hasn’t had the wins to show for it.”
Knarr exited after reaching the 100-pitch limit on the first out in the sixth, and the Bison were unable to make the Chucks and reliever Huey pay for miscues that had the tying run aboard in the last two frames.
While Knarr got outs on nine balls hit into the air, Huey had the Bison beating the ball into the ground for four of the five outs he recorded in notching the save.
The Bison get a chance to avenge one of their close losses in a home game against Tyrone Tuesday. The Golden Eagles eked out a nine-inning 3-2 win April 6.
PUNXSUTAWNEY — 6
Adison Neal c 2200, Alec Greenblatt ss 2210, Daren Byers cf-1b 1100, Dylan Ishman 3b 4023, Jackson Fezell pr 0100, Derek Huey 1b-p 4022, Andrew Britton 2b 3000, Sheldon Young rf 3011, Isaac Knarr p 0000, Ethan Lainey dh 2000, Long dh-lf 1000, Aidan Johnston lf-cf 3000. TOTALS: 25 6 6 6.
CLEARFIELD — 5
Caullin Reed ss 3100, Nate Barr 4220, Eli Glass p-rf-1b 3100, Hayden Williams 2b 3111, Harrison Peacock 3b 4002, Allan Myers c 2011, Cade Walker lf 3011, Nick Domico rf 2000, Hunter Dixon p 1000, Karson Rumsky 1b-rf 1000, Hunter Hipps dh 2000. TOTALS: 28 5 5 5.
Score by Innings
Punxsutawney 003 030 0 – 6 6 4
Clearfield 400 010 0 – 5 5 2
E – Greenblatt, Byers, Ishman, Britton; Williams, Peacock. DP – Punxsutawney 1 (Ishman, Britton and Byers); Clearfield 3 (Peacock and Rumsky; Peacock unassisted; Glass, Reed and Glass). LOB – Punxsutawney 5; Clearfield 7. 2B – Young. Sac – Greenblatt. SB – Walker.
Pitching
Punxsutawney – Knarr 5-1/3 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K; Huey 1-2/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K.
Clearfield – Glass 4+ IP (faced 3 batters in 5th), 3 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 6 BB, 4 K; Dixon 3 IP, 3H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K.
HB – Knarr 2 (Williams, Myers). WP – Knarr 1; Glass 2.
W – Knarr. L – Glass (3-2). Sv – Huey.
Umpires – Sam Patton (plate) and Jim Cushion (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 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 – 2 6 – 4
4/23 HUNTINGDON 6 – 4 7 – 4
4/25 @ Philipsburg-Osceola 3 – 4 7 – 5
4/29 PUNXSUTAWNEY 5 – 6 7 – 6
4/30 TYRONE
5/03 @ Penns Valley
5/06 CENTRAL
5/08 @ Bradford
5/09 BELLEFONTE
5/13 @ Curwensville
5/16 @ DuBois