BELLEFONTE — The season opener for the Clearfield Bison on the baseball diamond was not a fun outing. The visiting Bellefonte Red Raiders would make a tough day for the home squad, downing Clearfield in five innings. Fast forward to nearly a month later, the two would meet up once again, this time with the Red Raiders playing host.
This time, the game went a full seven innings, and there was not as many runs that made it home. But, it did result in a familiar finish. Bellefonte did not have as many hits as the Bison, but Clearfield was the one on the wrong end of a 4-0 score.
Bellefonte’s Peyton Vancas was dealing on this sunny afternoon, as he would go all seven innings for his first win of the season. Clearfield could not take advantage of their higher hit total on the afternoon, as they would strand eight in scoring position.
It was actually a unique situation that got the scoring going. With runners on the corners, and Braedyn Kormanic at the plate, Triston Heckman stole second on a 1-2 pitch. Right after, Trevor Johnson would steal home on the throw to second, putting one run on the board. That ultimately was the only lead change in the game.
A sacrifice fly in the second put the second run on the board before Bellefonte was held scoreless until the fifth inning.
That is when a fielder’s choice by Kormanic was enough for Vancas to score his lone run on the afternoon. An inning later, Levi Purnell got to round home on a fielding error, the lone error of the game, to set the final.
For the Bison, Elijah Quick took the loss with a four and one-third inning effort, giving up three earned runs and striking out three. Clearfield would have more walks in the game than strikeouts, as eight batters got an easy ride to first against the three strikeouts that Quick had on the afternoon.
The first half of the season for Clearfield (2-7) will come to a close on Friday when they travel to face Brookville.
SCORE BY INNING
Clearfield 000 000 0 – 0 6 1
Bellefonte 110 011 X – 4 4 0
Clearfield – 0
Cole Bloom-c 3010, Anthony Lopez-ss 3000, Morgen Billotte-cf 2020, Hayvin Bumbarger-1b 3000, Christian Welker-dh/p 3000, Hunter Rumsky 3020, Will Domico-rf 3000, Kam Kushner-lf 3010, Elijah Quick-p 2000, Matt Irvin-ph 1000. TOTALS 26 0 6 0.
Bellefonte – 4
Trevor Johnson-rf 3100, Peyton Vancas-p 2110, Charles Kellogg-Long-cr 0000, Alexander Ebeling-cf 3000, Triston Heckman-ss 0000, Braedyn Kormanic-dh 3001, Dominic Capperella-1b 3110, Levi Purnell-c 1110, Ryan Fraley-2b 0001, Josh Brown-3b 3010, Caleb Stock-ph 0000. TOTALS 18 4 4 2.
- LOB: 8/8
- E: Mikesell
- 2B: Billotte, Kushner
- SAC: Fraley-2
- SF: Fraley
- FC: Domico, Welker/Johnson, Kormanic
- HBP: Johnson
- SB: Heckman-2, Johnson-2
- PIK: Domico
- CS: Vancas
PITCHING
- Clearfield: Quick-4.1 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 SO, 6 BB; Welker-1.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 SO, 2 BB.
- Bellefonte: Vancas-7 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 4 SO, 3 BB.
W-Vancas (1-0)
L-Quick (1-3)