HYDE — The Clearfield Bison baseball team snapped their five-game losing streak Tuesday at home versus Penns Valley. The pitching battle between Craig Mays and J. Stover ended in a much needed 1-0 win for Clearfield. The Bison improved to 3-6, while the Rams dropped to 1-11.
The Rams’ bats looked ready to come to life after J. Meyer began the game with a single, but he was shortly afterwards picked off by Mays. An error at first allowed another runner to reach, but Mays quickly got out of the inning with a strike out on a pitch that froze B. Karc.
The Bison got two on in the bottom of the third, but were not able to capitalize, with a fielder’s choice to third ending the inning.
The next inning, the Bison got their lead off hitter on base. Unfortunately for Clearfield, a 6-4-3 double play quickly killed the momentum and Stover escaped once again.
Derrick Mikesell reached first after being hit by a pitch in the bottom of the fifth, and advanced into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt from Hayden Rumsky. The top of the order was up for the Bison with a quick runner on second. The top two hitters were forced into back-to-back fly outs, and the Bison were once again left scoreless.
In the top of the sixth, the Rams had more life than ever. Meyer hit a single up the middle, before Karc bunted up the first baseline for single to put two on with no outs. After a groundout, the two runners advanced to put two in scoring position with one out. Mays came through without the help of his defense, striking out the cleanup and fifth hitter in a huge momentum boost for Clearfield.
O’Brian Owens started off the bottom of the sixth with a single, before Kamden Kushner came into pinch-run. Kushner advanced to second on a fielder’s choice to the pitcher, and to third on a wild pitch. With one on and one out, Hunter Rumsky was at the plate. Rumsky came through with a ground ball to the shortstop, who tried to throw out Kushner but the tag was not in time and the first run of the game was scored, making it 1-0 Bison. Matt Irvin reached on error, before Derrick Mikesell walked. This was the end of Stover’s night as Meyer came on in relief to get the final out of the sixth.
The tying-run reached base in the seventh inning on a leadoff walk. The Rams made the mistake of trying to get in scoring position on Cole Bloom, and the runner was thrown out at second attempting to steal. No other runners would reach for Penns Valley, and the Bison picked up the win.
Clearfield will enjoy back-to-back off days, before making the hour-long trip to Bishop Carroll.
Penns Valley – 000 000 0 0 5 1
Clearfield – 000 001 X 1 3 1
Penns Valley — 0
J. Meyer- CF/P 3020, B. Karc- SS 3010, J. Stover- P 3000, L. Shawley- CF 0000, B. Kurtz- C 3010, N. Gillespie- 2B 3010, J. Lieb- 1B 2000, R Birge- PH 0000, C. Miller- LF 3000, C. Webster- LF 3000, J. Romig- RF 2000, TOTALS- 25 0 5 0
E- Karc. CS – Birge.
Clearfield — 1
Anthony Lopez- SS 2000, Christian Welker- RF 2000, O’Brian Owens- LF 3010, Hayvin Bumbarger- 1B 2010, Hunter Rumsky- DH 3011, Cole Bloom- C 2000, Matt Irvin- 3000, Derrick Mikesell- CF 1000, Craig Mays- P 2000, TOTALS- 20 1 3 1
E- Bumbarger. HBP- Mikesell.
Pitching
Penns Valley- Stover (L): 5.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 5 SO Meyer: 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO
Clearfield- Mays (W): 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 10 SO
BISON SCOREBOARD:
Date Opponent Score Record
3/18 CENTRAL ppd. 0 – 0
3/20 @ Bellefonte ppd. 0 – 0
3/22 CENTRAL 1 – 17 0 – 1
3/25 BISHOP GUILFOYLE 10 – 2 1 – 1
3/27 @ Tyrone 4 – 3 2 – 1
4/02 HOLLIDAYSBURG ppd. 2 – 1
4/05 SOMERSET ppd. 2 – 1
4/08 @ Huntingdon ppd. 2 – 1
4/10 SOMERSET ppd. 2 – 1
4/11 GREATER JOHNSTOWN ppd. 2 – 1
4/12 @ Forest Hills ppd. 2 – 1
4/15 @ Bradford 0 – 10 2 – 2
4/16 PHIILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA 1 – 3, 8 inn. 2 – 3
4/18 @ St. Marys 3 – 4 2 – 4
4/19 @ DuBois 2 – 3 2 – 5
4/22 @ Bellwod-Antis 2 – 4 2 – 6
4/23 PENNS VALLEY 1 – 0 3 – 6
4/26 @ Bishop Carrol
4/29 @ Bald Eagle Area
4/30 SOMERSET
5/03 GREATER JOHNSTOWN
5/06 @ Central
5/08 BELLEFONTE
5/09 @ Forest Hills
5/10 @ Huntingdon
5/13 @ Bellefonte
5/15 PUNXSUTAWNEY
5/16 HOLLIDAYSBURG