SENECA, Pa. (D9Sports) — For just the second time in school history, Clarion will be playing for a baseball championship.
(Photo: Ryan Anthony was the Hager Paving Player of the Game)
The Bobcats (18-2) moved into the District 9/10 Class 1A title game with a 7-0 win over District 10 champion Jamestown in the semifinals Tuesday afternoon at Cranberry High School.
Listen to the game:
Top-seeded Clarion’s title-game opponent will be a familiar one with the ‘Cats taking on Oswayo Valley, the team that beat Clarion in its only other title-game appearance in 2015, 10-0 in six innings. The third-seeded Green Wave advanced with a 3-1 victory over second-seeded Elk County Catholic.
The title game will be at 4:30 p.m. Thursday at Berwind Park in St. Marys, and the game will be available to listen to on-line as part of the Laurel Eye Clinic High School baseball action on ExploreClarion.com and D9Sports.com as well as the ExploreRadio app.
A strong pitching performance from Ryan Anthony and good patience at the plate helped get the Bobcats, who have never won a title in baseball, back to the championship game.
Ryan Anthony, who was named the Hager Paving Player of the Game, went six shutout innings allowing only three baserunners. He gave up a pair of hits in the third inning and struck out eight. Sterling Conner then completed the shutout with a scoreless seventh.
Driving in two runs as well, Ryan Anthony was one of two Clarion batters with a pair of RBIs, Spencer Miller had a two-run single capping off a three-run second inning that gave the Bobcats a 4-0 lead.
Spencer Miller swings at a pitch during the first inning Tuesday. Photo by Christie Datko
Ryan Anthony talked about his performance, the win and the title game after the contest.
It was Ryan Anthony’s base hit to right in the first inning that accounted for the only run Clarion needed, as he scored Miller, who led off the game for Clarion with a walk and stole second.
Four more second-inning walks led the to three runs in the inning with Cam Craig, Skylar Rhoades, Kyle Patterson and Josh Craig drawing four consecutive free passes in the inning to make it 2-0 before Miller’s single against surprise Jamestown starter Cole Potase, who was making his first start of the season, capped off the inning.
A bit of Houdini-like baserunning by Cam Craig helped.
With his young brother, Josh, at the plate, the junior got himself caught too far off third and was forced to race to the plate after a snap throw by catcher Ashtin Geist. A long rundown ensued, but Cam Craig was somehow able to avoid the tag of the pitcher Potase diving back into third base setting up his brother for an RBI walk a couple of pitches later.
Cam Craig during his second-inning rundown. Photo by Christie Datko
Jamestown (4-10) mounted its only threat of the afternoon in the top of the third when Richard Graham reached on an error by Miller, the shortstop, leading off the inning and Shane McLaughlin and Potase had back-to-back hits with two outs to load the bases. But Ryan Anthony got Michael Westcott to strikeout looking to end the threat.
The Bobcats then added a pair of hustling runs in the bottom of the inning when Conner doubled with one out and scored on a Cam Craig single to left with Craig going to second on the throw. Craig then scored all the way from second on a groundout to second by Rhoades to make it 6-0.
The game remained a six-run affair until the sixth when Patterson was hit by a pitch, Dominic Fleming beat out an infield single to second and Miller reached on an error to load the bases for Ryan Anthony, who hit a sacrifice fly to center to cap off the scoring.
Jamestown takes on Elk County Catholic in the consolation game at 7 p.m. Friday at Showers Field in DuBois. The winner moves into the PIAA playoffs while the loser’s season is over.
EXTRA-BASE HITS
CLARION 7, JAMESTOWN 0
Score by Innings
Jamestown 000 000 0 — 0
Clarion 132 001 x — 7
JAMESTOWN — 0
Shane McLaughlin cf/ss 3010, Cole Potase p/c 3010, Michael Westcott 1b 3000, Clay Shannon lf 3000, Jacob Arnold rf 3000, Jed Goodlin ss/p 2000, Richard Graham 3b 3000, Ashtin Geist c/cf 2000, Mitchell Headley 2b 2000. Totals 24-0-2-0.
CLARION — 7
Spencer Miller ss 3112, Ryan Anthony p/2b 3012, Nate Datko lf/rf 4000, Reed Anthony 1b/lf 3000, Sterling Conner cf/p 2110, Cam Craig 2b/3b 2211, Skylar Rhoades rf/cf 2101, Kyle Patterson c 1200, Josh Craig dh 1001, Dominic Fleming 3b/1b 1010. Totals 22-7-5-7.
LOB: Jamestown 4. Clarion 5. Errors: Jamestown 2. Clarion 1. 2b: Conner. SB: Miller (2). HBP: Conner by Goodlin, Patterson by Goodlin. SF: Ryan Anthony.
PITCHING
Jamestown
Cole Potase — 2 IP, 2 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 5 BB, 1 K, 0 HP
Jed Goodling — 4 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 2 HP
Totals — 6 IP, 5 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 5 BB, 2 K, 2 HP
Clarion
Ryan Anthony — 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, 0 HP
Sterling Conner — 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, 0 HP
Totals — 7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, 0 HP
Winning pitcher: Ryan Anthony
Losing pitcher: Cole Potase
