HYDE — The midway point of the season had come and gone for the Clearfield Bison baseball team, coming later than expected due to the multiple rain delays and postponements in the early part of April. The Bison came into Tuesday just below the .500-mark on the year, and had to be prepared for an early start. The Tyrone Golden Eagles made the trip to Hyde for not just one game with the Bison, but two. Because of the limited time left to get in all the regular season games, it was decided that the postponed game that was to be played in Tyrone would be the lead-off game on the afternoon.
In the end, it didn’t matter which game was played first, because the Bison struggled on the afternoon both getting the offense going, and having the defense to back it up. In the end, the Bison dropped both games to Tyrone, the first by an 8-1 final and the second being 11-4.
In game one, Tyrone got out to the lead early in the first inning as Ross Gampe started the scoring with an RBI-single to left field, bringing home Ashton Walk who opened the inning with a single. After nabbing the second out, Nick Lehner managed his own RBI-single that brought in Gampe. Cortlynd Rhoades then had a “same song, different verse” moment when he hit an RBI-single into left field as well, making the score 3-0 after one.
Clearfield got on the board in a big way to start the second inning.
After loading the count, Blake Prestash stared down a 3-2 pitch and powered it long, and far, over the left field wall for the solo home run. That run, ultimately, was the only one given up by pitcher Zac Legars. He settled down as he only allowed two more hits in the game, finishing the entire game, despite only striking out two batters, to earn the victory.
Meanwhile, the Bison were struggling on the hill as Prestash could not get things going. After giving up the first three runs of the game, he loaded the bases with a pair of walks, then a fielding error. At that point, Bison head coach Sid Lansberry made lineup changes, bringing in Hunter Rumsky.
Unfortunately, Rumsky’s time on the hill was not great either, as he gave up a bases-loaded walk, then an RBI-single to make the score 5-1. The defense managed to nab a pair of groundouts on the next two at-bats, but in doing so saw another pair of runs cross home. The final run on the afternoon came courtesy of a wild pitch from Rumsky that got past catcher Cole Bloom, allowing Zac Legars the easy path to the plate that ultimately set the final score.
Prestash got tagged with the loss on the afternoon after giving up three runs, all earned.
Both teams got a chance to rest before the second game, allowing some time to strategize in order to either split the series, or go for a sweep. But, much like the first game, the Golden Eagles came out ready, and struck fast. After a pair of singles to put runners on first and second, Legars soared a 1-1 pitch from starter Ryan Gearhart into center field for an RBI-single to get the first run on the board. Lehner followed that with a liner right up the left-field line to bring Ross Gampe in. Legars then scored on the throw to home, but in an instant the score was 3-0, exactly like game one.
However, the scoring was not done as Landon Hamer blasted an RBI-single into the right field gap, then two batters later after Nathaniel Patterson was brought in as a courtesy runner, he made it home on a fielding error.
The 5-0 gap at the end of one inning was more than enough to ensure the lead wouldn’t change.
Gearhart went another two innings, giving up two more runs in the third before the coaches made a change on the hill. The senior gave up seven runs, while striking out one.
At the same time Gearhart was struggling, Hamer was helping his own cause, going six innings and only giving up three hits. The lone two runs he gave up were in the bottom of the fourth with a bases-loaded walk and an RBI-single by Ty Troxell. He would get the victory on the afternoon.
Clearfield gave up one more run in the top half of the fourth before scoring their two runs, but then things still went south in the fifth.
Relief pitcher Kyle Elensky hurled an 0-1 pitch to Gampe, and the ball went awry on a wild pitch. It ended up being close to the Bison dugout to the point Aiden Coleman stopped his advance to home. But, the umpire saw the ball went out of play to where the umpire said the ball would not be in a spot to make a realistic play. Coleman maneuvered home, making the score 9-2. Elensky managed to get the strikeout, but then gave up an RBI-single to Luke Brooks, then an RBI-double to Legars. After five innings, the Bison were down 11-2.
Clearfield had a final shot in the seventh as the Tyrone coaches opted to bring in David Lang to close it out.
Shane Coudriet got the chance to get the first runner on, as he singled into center field. He managed to move all the way to third when Elensky and Nolan Barr flew out and grounded out, respectively. Morgen Billotte then connected on a 1-0 shot to center field for an RBI-double. One batter later, Prestash lined to left field to bring Billotte home on an RBI-single. But Cole Bloom then flew out to right, closing out the afternoon.
Clearfield (4-8) has a couple days to rest and get things squared away as they are not back on the diamond until Friday when they travel to Bellefonte for a 4:30 p.m. contest with the Red Raiders.
GAME 1
SCORE BY INNING
Clearfield 010 000 0 – 1 3 2
Tyrone 300 500 X – 8 8 0
Clearfield – 1
Kyle Elensky-SS 3000, Nolan Barr-1B/P 3000, Morgen Billotte-CF 3010, Blake Prestash-P/2B 3111, Cole Bloom-C 3000, Ryan Gearhart-3B 3000, Ty Troxell-RF 1000, Hunter Rumsky-2B/P/1B 2010, Elijah Quick-LF 1000. TOTALS 22 1 3 1.
Tyrone – 8
Ashton Walk-SS 2210, David Lang-LF 3110, Ross Gampe-1B 3211, Luke Brooks-C 3011, Zac Legars-P 4211, Nick Lehner-3B 3012, Cortlynd Rhoades-2B 3012, Jesse Yingling-PH 1000, Ryan Light-RF 2010, Aiden Coleman-CR 0000, AJ Coleman-CF 2000, Joshua Patterson-PH 1100. TOTALS 27 8 8 7.
- LOB: 2/10
- E: Elensky, Prestash
- ROE: Gampe
- HR: Prestash
- SAC: Quick
- FC: Quick/Lang, Legars
- HBP: Troxell
- SB: Lang, Rhoades, Lehner
- CS: Billotte
PITCHING
Clearfield: Prestash-3 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 SO, 5 BB; Rumsky-0.2 IP, 1 H, 5 R, 2 ER, 0 SO, 4 BB; Barr-2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 SO, 0 BB.
Tyrone: Legars-7 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 SO, 0 BB.
W-Legars
L-Prestash
GAME 2
SCORE BY INNING
Tyrone 502 130 0 – 11 13 1
Clearfield 000 200 2 – 4 6 4
Tyrone – 11
David Lang-LF/P 4210, Ross Gampe-SS 5110, Luke Brooks-C 5111, Zac Legars-CF 4232, Nick Lehner-3B 4123, Austin Mcclellan-PH 1000, Landon Hamer-P/LF 3021, Jesse Yingling-1B 1000, Cortlynd Rhoades-2B 3000, Nathaniel Patterson-CR/PH 1200, Landon Postriech-SS 4010, Aiden Coleman-RF 2220. TOTALS 37 11 13 7.
Clearfield – 4
Kyle Elensky-SS/P 4000, Nolan Barr-2B/SS/3B 4000, Morgen Billotte-CF 3211, Blake Prestash-1B 3111, Cole Bloom-C 4010, Ryan Gearhart-P/2B 2011, Ty Troxell-RF 2011, Isaac Durandetta-DH/P 1000, Hunter Rumsky 1000, Elijah Quick-LF 2000, Shane Coudriet=CR/PH 1110. TOTALS 27 4 6 4.
- LOB: 9/7
- E: Lehner/Barr, Prestash, Quick, Troxell
- ROE: Lang-2, Postriech/Billotte
- 2B: Legars, Coleman, Lehner/Billotte
- FC: Gampe/Prestash
- HBP: Legars, Coleman
- SB: Lang, Patterson, Coleman-3, Lehner/Coudriet
- DP: Coleman
PITCHING
Tyrone: Hamer-6 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 0 SO, 5 BB; Lang-1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 SO, 0 BB.
Clearfield: Gearhart-3 IP, 7 H, 7 R, 4 ER, 1 SO, 1 BB; Elensky-1.2 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 3 So, 1 BB; Durandetta-2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 SO, 0 BB.
W-Hamer
L-Gearhart