Bison’s Orsich Blanks Raiders 3-0 on Two Hits

HYDE — Brandon Orsich pitched a two-hit gem for a 3-0 victory over Bellefonte Wednesday afternoon to keep the Clearfield Area High School baseball team undefeated and tied  atop the Mountain League with Philipsburg-Osceola.

The senior right-hander struck out four in the fast-paced, well-played game at the Bison Sports Complex.

He relied on a fastball, cutter and curve for 64 strikes compared to 30 balls in his second straight complete game.

And none of four Red Raider baserunners reached second base.

“A masterpiece,” Clearfield coach Sid Lansberry gushed. “Coach (Chris) Peacock had a great game plan going in, and Brandon executed it to the T. That’s a great high school game when a pitcher can dominate the way he did.

“He was mixing up his pitches, changing speeds and keeping kids off balance. Strikeouts didn’t matter. They weren’t hitting the ball hard.”

Orsich, who has committed to Pitt-Bradford to play golf as well as baseball, didn’t allow a ball out of the infield until No. 9 batter Darren Heeman rolled an 0-2 offering through the middle for the only Red Raider hit over the first six innings.

Logan Mathieu led off the seventh with a hard-hit single, but Orsich responded with a strikeout before closing out the Bison’s third win by inducing a comebacker for a force at second and a foul pop behind the plate.

“One ball hit on the nose, that was about it,” Lansberry said. “It was one of the best performances of his career.”

Meanwhile, the Bison cashed two infield singles and a walk into their runs.

Marcus Luzier, Jake Sorbera and Tommy Hazel delivered the run-producing hits.

Luzier’s laser over the left fielder’s head in the first inning gave Orsich the only run he needed, chasing home courtesy runner Thayne Morgan with the double. Morgan had moved into scoring position via a stolen base after his twin brother, Zane, beat out a spinner to the right side.

Sorbera came through with a clutch two-out single in the fourth that made it 2-0. His liner into left center plated Ty Bender, who had advanced to second when his grounder to deep short was thrown away at first base.

Hazel’s RBI also was a two-out hit. Justin Fedder walked and Zane Morgan sacrificed to set up the opportunity he exploited with a rip into left field.

The Bison managed six hits off Kyler Mellott, one of 11 lettermen back from last year’s District 6 Class AAA championship team. The lanky lefthander had two strikeouts and three walks.

“He pitched well,” Lansberry said. “We did not hit very many balls hard either.

“We’re winning on pitching and defense, but you can’t always count on the type of pitching we’ve had so far. We’ve gotta start producing more up and down the order.”

The Bison will play on a foreign diamond for the first time Thursday against Tyrone and then travel in the opposite direction Friday for a non-league game against District 9 Class AAA rival Punxsutawney.

Mountain League standings — Clearfield 3-0, Philipsburg-Osceola 3-0, Central 3-1, Huntingdon 2-1, Bald Eagle Area 1-2, Penns Valley 1-2,  Tyrone 0-3, Bellefonte 0-4.

BELLEFONTE — 0

Tyler Kreger 3b 3000, Mark Armstrong rf 3000, Logan Mathieu 1b 2010, Gereg Schuster pf 0000, Tanner Helms cf 3000, Nick Jabco lf 3000, Storm Smith 2b 3000, Kyler Mellott p 0000, Garrett Reiter dh 2000, Greg Watson c 2000, Darren Heeman ss 2010. TOTALS: 23 0 2 0.

CLEARFIELD — 0

Justin Fedder 2b 2100, Zane Morgan c 1110, Thayne Morgan cr 0000, Marcus Luzier 3b 3011, Tommy Hazel cf 3011, Will Myers ss 0000, Ty Bender dh 3110, Brandon Orsich p 3000, Jon Trimpey lf 2010, Jake Sorbera rf 3011, Reese Wilson rf 0000, Seth Bumbarger 1b 2000. TOTALS: 23 3 6 3.

Score by Innings

Bellefonte    000 000 0 – 0  2  1
Clearfield     100 110 x – 3  6  1
E – Heeman; Myers. DP – Bellefonte 1 (Mellott, Heeman and Mathieu); Clearfield 1 (Fedder, Myers and Bumbarger. LOB – Bellefonte 3; Clearfield 5. 2B – Luzier. Sac – Z. Morgan. SB – T. Morgan, Hazel.

Pitching

Bellefonte – Mellott 6 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 2 K.
Clearfield – Orsich 7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K.
WP – Mellott 1.
W – Orsich (2-0). L – Mellott.

Umpires – Aaron Atkins (plate); Bryan O’Neil (bases).

Bison Scoreboard: