SPRING MILLS-Trying to get even one game in this year has been a challenge for all the area baseball teams. Weather has not been kind to anyone, but yet in the last week, somehow the Clearfield Bison have managed to get three games in a week’s time, the third of which was a Saturday matinee in Spring Mills against the Penns Valley Rams that was rescheduled from earlier this week.
For Clearfield, it was a new day, but similar result, as the Bison were tripped up early by the Rams, falling in a 5-3 final, their fourth straight loss on the year.
The Rams got on the board first when Colby Sweitzer took a 3-1 pitch from Kyle Elensky to left field to pull in the first run of the afternoon. But, not to be outdone, a huge RBI-double from Ty Troxell one inning later tied things up.
Unfortunately for the visiting squad, the bottom of the third is when things went downhill.
It started when McClain Welshans connected on a 1-2 pitch for an RBI-single, one of two RBI’s he had on the afternoon, to put the Rams up by a run. Dakota Brodinza would ground out on the next at-bat, but it was enough to bring Hayden Houser home for the second run of the inning. Ty Houtz then took an 0-1 toss and blasted it into the outfield for an RBI-double to put Penns Valley up 4-1 before the inning came to a close.
Another run in the fifth inning was more than enough to put the Rams ahead comfortably, as they held on for the remainder of the game.
Clearfield got another two runs in the top of the sixth, but were not able to close anymore. as they only managed six hits on the afternoon, stranding nine on base.
For the Rams, they would go through three pitchers on the afternoon. It would be Kyle Niewinski getting the win on the afternoon, tossing four and one-third innings in relief, giving up four hits and striking out three. Clearfield’s Elensky got tagged with the loss, his second in four days, in a four-inning effort, giving up nine hits and all five earned runs.
Clearfield (3-5) only has two games slated for next week, both of which are on the road, beginning on Monday when the Bison face off with the Bald Eagle Area Eagles. It was on April 5 when these two squads first met, with the Bison taking the 4-2 victory. First pitch is set at 4:30 p.m.
SCORE BY INNING
Clearfield 010 002 0 – 3 6 0
Penns Valley 103 010 X – 5 9 1
Clearfield – 3
Kyle Elensky 4000, Nolan Barr 3000, Morgen Billotte 4120, Blake Prestash 3000, Cole Bloom 3220, Ryan Gearhart 4011, Ty Troxell 3011, Mike Fester 2000, Elijah Quick 1001. TOTALS 27 3 6 3.
Penns Valley – 5
Hayden Houser 3220, McClain Welshans 3222, Dakota Brodinza 3011, Ty Houtz 3011, Colby Sweitzer 1011, Kyle Niewinski 2000, Owen Miller 3000, Jaden Simon 3000, Jon Meyer 3010, Malachi Thompson 2110. TOTALS 26 5 9 5.
- LOB: 9/3
- E: Lyons
- ROE: Barr
- 2B: Troxell/Houtz
- 3B: Houser
- FC: Troxell
- SB: Troxell/Welshans
- CS: Quick/Meyer
PITCHING
Clearfield: Elensky-4 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 5 SO, 0 BB; Prestash-2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 SO, 0 BB.
Penns Valley: Sweitzer-1.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 3 SO, 1 BB; Niewinski-4.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 SO, 5 BB; Lyons-1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 SO, 0 BB.
W-Niewinski
L-Elensky
