HYDE — Central erupted for five runs in the top of the eighth inning to hand the Clearfield area High School baseball team a 10-5 Mountain League setback at the Bison Sports Complex Tuesday.
The Scarlet Dragons had forced the extra frame when Paxton Kling legged out a slow roller down the third base line with one out in the sixth and, after a wild pitch, scored on a single to right by Hunter Klotz.
In the eighth, Bison reliever Cade Walker found himself in a bases-loaded, one-out situation after hitting Ty Helsel and Kling with curve balls that dipped down and in to the right-handed batters and the No. 9 batter mixed in a surprise bunt hit.
Helsel sprinted to the plate for the winning run on a wild pitch, and the visitors then sealed the Bison’s fate on a two-run single by Devon Boyles before Noah Muthler capped the outburst with home run to left field.
Central (10-9, 5-8 ML) had seen a 4-0 lead wiped out by the Bison in the second inning.
After Hayden Williams was safe on the game’s only error and winning pitcher Dylan Foch walked Allan Myers and Harrison Peacock, Walker came through with a booming double to the fence in center field for two RBIs.
Nick Domico drew a free pass to fill the sacks again before Kyle Elensky and Caullin Reed grounded into run-producing forceouts.
Clearfield (8-8, 6-7 ML) took the 5-4 lead in the third when Eli Glass whacked a double to deep left and courtesy runner Hunter Hipps moved up a base on a groundout and was sent home by Peacock on a sharp single through the right side.
That was it for the Bison, though.
Focht set down 13 batters in a row before reaching the 100-pitch limit in the seventh inning and giving way to Jake Eberlin, who fanned two of the three Bison he faced in the eighth.
Focht struck out three and allowed three hits, three walks and three earned runs for the win that avenged the Scarlet Dragons’ 10-4 loss to the Bison April 11.
“That says it all right there,” coach Sid Lansberry said when informed of how long the Bison bats were silenced. “Sixteen retired in a row. A lot of fly balls and a lot of rollover ground balls, where we’re not hitting the ball on a line up the middle.
“That’s been our nemesis all year, too many fly ball outs. We’re not a home run hitting team. We need to hit line drives.
“You can’t blame that game on the pitching if you only have three hits.”
Starter Eli Glass saw three of his six walks converted into runs by the Scarlet Dragons, one on Muthler’s double before he scored on Focht’s single in the first inning and two on Kling’s RBI single and Klotz’s sacrifice fly in the second.
Glass, who struck out three and gave up six hits in five innings, later was bailed out of two bases-loaded jams by his defense.
Middle infielders Reed and Elensky turned Leyton Kling’s bouncer into a double play in the third frame and center fielder Nate Barr raced into short right center for a diving grab of Kling’s sinking liner in the fifth.
Muthler and Focht had three hits apiece for the Scarlet Dragons.
“Central is a good hitting team,” Lansberry said. “Their team batting average is over .300.
“At least five innings, the first guy for them got on base. That makes it hard to pitch out.”
Walker was tagged with the loss, surrendering five hits and six runs, all earned, in three innings. He recorded five strikeouts.
The Bison will travel to Bradford Wednesday for a non-league game that might be very important for the District 9 Class AAAA seedings. They’ll be back at the BSC Thursday to welcome Bellefonte for their ML finale on Senior Day.
Mountain League standings — Tyrone 12-2, Philipsburg-Osceola 9-4, Bellefonte 7-5, Clearfield 6-7, Penns Valley 5-8, Central 5-8, Huntingdon 4-8, Bald Eagle Area 4-9.
CENTRAL — 10
Paxton Kling ss 4221, Hunter Klotz c 3112, Devon Boyles 3b 4112, Noah Muthler 2b 4233, Dylan Focht p 5031, Jason Ferry cr 0000, Jake Eberlin p 0000, Casey Walters cf 4000, Ty Helsel 0200, Leyton Kling rf 3100, Thad Albright lf 3110. TOTALS: 31 10 11 9.
CLEARFIELD — 4
Caullin Reed ss 4001, Nate Barr cf 4000, Eli Glass p-lf 4110, Hayden William 3b 4100, Allan Myers c 2100, Harrison Peacock rf 2111, Cade Walker lf-p 3112, Karson Rumsky 1b 0000, Nick Domico dh 2000, Kyle Elensky 2b 3001. TOTALS: 28 5 3 5.
Score by Innings
Central 220 001 05 – 10 11 1
Clearfield 041 000 00 — 5 3 0
E – P. Kling. DP – Clearfield 1 (Reed, Elensky and Rumsky). LOB – Central 2; Clearfield 3. 2B – Muthler; Glass, Walker. HR – Muthler. Sac – Albright. SF – Klotz. SB – P. Kling, Ferry. CS – Klotz (by Walker).
Pitching
Central – Focht 7 IP, 3 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 3 K; Eberlin 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K.
Clearfield – Glass 5 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 6 BB, 3 K; Walker 3 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 0 BB, 5 K.
HB – Walker 2 (P. Kling, Helsel). WP – Walker 2.
W – Focht. L – Walker (3-3).
Umpires – Jamie Johnson (plate) and Joe Shick (bases).
Bison Scoreboard:
Date Opponent Score Record
3/25 @ Bald Eagle Area 10 – 1 1 – 0
3/28 @ Huntingdon 6 – 8 1 – 1
4/02 PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA 1 – 2 1 – 2
4/04 CURWENSVILLE 5 – 2 2 – 2
4/05 @ Tyrone ppd. 2 – 2
4/06 @ Tyrone 2 – 3, 9 inn. 2 – 3
4/08 PENNS VALLEY 6 – 2 3 – 3
4/09 BROOKVILLE 22 – 12 4 – 3
4/11 @ Central 10 – 4 5 – 3
4/16 BELLEFONTE ppd. 5 – 3
4/17 @ Bellefonte 0 – 8 5 – 4
4/18 BALD EAGLE AREA 4 – 2 6 – 4
4/23 HUNTINGDON 6 – 4 7 – 4
4/25 @ Philipsburg-Osceola 3 – 4 7 – 5
4/29 PUNXSUTAWNEY 5 – 6 7 – 6
4/30 TYRONE 3 – 13 7 – 7
5/03 @ Penns Valley 4 – 3 8 – 7
5/06 CENTRAL ppd. 8 – 7
5/07 CENTRAL 5 – 10 8 – 8
5/08 @ Bradford
5/09 BELLEFONTE
5/13 @ Curwensville
5/16 @ DuBois
