HYDE — The final home game of the season for the Clearfield Bison had everything one could expect. The visiting Central Dragons, whom Clearfield beat to start the 2025 season, came in as the favorite, taking a lot of momentum into the latter part of the season and playoffs. The Dragons took the lead and kept the Bison from making it around the bags.
Until everything changed. It came in just one inning, but Clearfield found a way to rally off six runs to stun Central, sweeping the series for the year, in a 6-3 comeback win.
Central managed to get on the board first during the second inning. Bison starting pitcher Jayce Brothers had a quick 1-2-3 first inning, but Troy McNichol managed to get a lead-off double immediately on the first pitch offered in the second. Kye Klotz then sent a 1-2 pitch on a grounder up the gap between second and third that got deep enough to let McNichol round home to give the Dragons the early lead. Brothers managed to get out of the inning after walking Jesse Muthler, thanks to some defense on both a fly out to center, then a pop out to second. He finished the inning with a strikeout to Josh Beltz to keep the one-run deficit.
Starting pitcher for Central Mason Byler was having a strong outing early on, only giving up a walk and single through the first two innings. His teammates managed a pair of runs in the third on a pair of RBI-doubles from Wyatt Dilling and Klotz.
Through three innings, the Dragons held a 3-0 lead, and Clearfield was held to only three hits through the first five innings. Byler kept the Bison guessing, striking out four and only allowing one walk. Defensively, a lone error was the only miscue for Central entering the sixth inning.
All of a sudden, everything went awry for the visitors, and everything went right for the home squad.
O’Brian Owens started the inning with a lead-off single to right. Colton Bumbarger ground into a fielder’s choice for the first out, as Owens was tagged out advancing to second. Still, one runner on the bags kept hope alive for the Bison. Landon Brady then came in as courtesy runner for Bumbarger so he could get his catcher’s gear on, and in the meantime he watched Braison Patrick single to center on a pop fly that got lost in the sun. Runners on first and second gave Christian Welker a chance to get Clearfield close.
He did that on a 2-2 offering, flying to center field to plate Brady on an RBI-double. Suddenly, the tying run was on base with Craig Mays coming to the plate.
After looking at strike one, and seeing a pair of pitches go outside the zone, he connected, lining a ball into deep left field. Patrick and Welker rounded the bases, and a two-RBI double lit up the home dugout and the fans sitting along the third base line.
If the tying double got them excited, Matt Irvin got the entire Bison contingent roaring, taking a 2-1 shot into right field to bring Mays home. The third double in as many batters, and the fourth run batted in, gave Clearfield a 4-3 lead, and only one out on the tally. Brothers grounded out for the second out, but Irvin moved to third, and Kam Kushner decided to pull his own double-up, flying to center field for another RBI-double to make it 5-3. At that point, Central coaches could see change needed to happen, and Dilling was then moved to the bump to get the final out of the inning.
He would hit the first batter he faced, Noah Wriglesworth, to put runners on the corners. Owens then came back to the box for his second at-bat of the inning, and hit a pop fly to center that allowed Kushner to cross the plate.
One inning, six runs, and Clearfield suddenly went from being down and needing to find a way to win, to instead looking to lock in a victory with three more outs.
Brothers’ afternoon was done, and Craig Mays would come out in hopes of earning himself the save on the afternoon.
He would hit Lucas Black to start the seventh, but his defense came out firing immediately after when Dilling connected on an 0-1 shot. The ball went right up to Irvin at first, who tagged the bag, and then hurled the ball to Patrick, coming over from short to cover the second base bag. The throw was in time, as was the tag, and the 3-6 double play left only one out for Central to try and get anything going.
Jay Hoenstine loaded the count, and connected on the sixth pitch. The ball went right to Patrick, replaying the double play, as he tossed to first and Irvin pulled in the catch for the final out.
Brothers would get the win in a six-inning effort, striking out three and three earned runs, with his defense coming up big when it mattered most. Mays would get the save on the afternoon with his seventh-inning service.
The Bison (9-9) will finish their regular season with a pair of road games next week, starting with a trip to Bellefonte on Monday. The Red Raiders got the win in the first matchup back on March 21 in a 10-0 shutout. First pitch will be at 4:30 p.m.
SCORE BY INNING
Central 012 000 0 – 3 7 1
Clearfield 000 006 X – 6 10 1
Central – 3
Lukas Black-ss 3110, Wyatt Dilling-3b/p 4110, Jay Hoenstine-2b 4000, Troy McNichol-dh 3120, Kyle Klotz-c 3032, Jesse Muthler-lf 2000, Mason Sparks-1b 3000, Mason Byler-p/3b 3000, Kade Robison-cr/rf 0000, Josh Beltz-rf 2000. TOTALS 27 3 7 2.
Clearfield – 6
Kam Kushner-cf 3121, Noah Wriglesworth-lf 3000, O’Brian Owens-3b 4021, Colton Bumbarger-c 3010, Landon Brady-cr 0100, Braison Patrick-ss 4110, Christian Welker-dh 3121, Connor Peacock-2b 2000, Craig Mays-p 1112, Matt Irvin-1b 3111, Jayce Brothers-p 3000. TOTALS 29 6 10 6.
2B: McNichol, Klotz, Dilling/Mays, Kushner, Welker, Irvin
3B: Black
HBP: Black/Wriglesworth
SB: Beltz
E: Dilling/Irvin
Pitching
- Central: Byler-5.2 IP, 9 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 4 SO, 1 BB; Dilling-0.1
- Clearfield: Brothers-6 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 SO, 2 BB; Mays-1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 SO, 0 BB.
W-Brothers (1-2)
L-Byler
S-Mays
Clearfield Baseball Scoreboard
03/18: at Central 14 – 8, 1 – 0
03/20: BELLEFONTE ppd, 1 – 0
03/21: BELLEFONTE 0 – 10, 1 – 1
03/25: BISHOP GUILFOYLE 6 – 5, 2 – 1
03/27: TYRONE 5 – 8, 2 – 2
04/01: at Hollidaysburg 7 – 8, 2 – 3
04/04: at Somerset 1 – 16, 2 – 4
04/08: HUNTINGDON ppd. 2 – 4
04/11: FOREST HILLS ppd. 2 – 4
04/14: at Philipsburg-Osceola 3 – 9, 2 – 5
04/16: BELLWOOD-ANTIS ppd. 2 – 5
04/17: FOREST HILLS 3 – 13, 2 – 6
04/22: at Penns Valley 11 – 0, 3 – 6
04/24: DUBOIS 6 – 4, 4 – 6
04/26: BELLWOOD-ANTIS ppd. 4 – 6
04/28: BALD EAGLE AREA 2 – 1, 5 – 6
04/29: BELLWOOD-ANTIS 5 – 9, 5 – 7
04/30: BRADFORD 10 – 3, 6 – 7
05/01: HUNTINGDON 3 – 4, 6 – 8
05/02: BISHOP CARROLL 10 – 0, 7 – 8
05/05: at Greater Johnstown 15 – 10, 8 – 8
05/07: ST. MARYS 2 – 6, 8 – 9
05/09: CENTRAL 6 – 3, 9 – 9
05/12: at Bellefonte
05/14: at Punxsutawney
