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Philipsburg pummels Clarence, 23-5, in Centre County League playoffs
Saturday, July 28, 2012
By Andy Stine Sports Writer
PHILIPSBURG - When it comes to offense and scoring runs, the Philipsburg Pirates usually don't have a problem. After a slight hiccup after two innings on Friday evening at the Don Womer Baseball Complex, the Pirates made up for what they missed and maybe even gave a little more in the third inning.
After spotting Clarence four runs in the first two and a half innings, Philipsburg exploded for 14 runs and scored nine more throughout the game. The big inning helped the Pirates drop Clarence, 23-5 in the first game of the Centre County League semifinals best-of-5 series.
Clarence scored its first run early. Justin Koleno reached on an error and moved over to third base on a Brian Kochik single. Koleno came home on a John Schall sacrifice fly for the first run of the game.
Koleno, Clarence's starting pitcher, gave up a base hit in each of the first two innings. However, Philipsburg never threatened to score as neither baserunner reached second base.
Brad Young opened the second inning with a ground ball up the middle that looked like an easy hit. Philipsburg shortstop Ryan Mostyn made a nice diving stab, but threw the ball out of play to allow Young to take second base.
Jeff Koleno hit a single to put runners at the corners with nobody out. Young came home on a Dillon Schall groundout. Philipsburg starting pitcher Josh Potter got out of the jam with a strikeout and a groundout to keep the score at 2-0.
With two outs in the top of the third, Clarence added on with back-to-back solo homers from John Schall and Adam Fisher. The bombs were the first two extra-base hits in the game.
That was about all the fun Clarence was going to get in the game, though.
After a single from Parker Watson to open the home half for the Pirates, Matt Curtis and Jeremy Potter both laid down picture-perfect bunt singles to load the bases for Mostyn.
Mostyn belted a single to left that the left fielder had trouble fielding. Two runs scored on the play and Mostyn advanced to second on the error. The next seven batters all reached base with all but one reaching on a base hit.
With the score at 8-4 and the bases loaded, Jeremy Potter launched a 3-0 pitch to deep left field for a grand slam to put the Pirates ahead eight runs.
"It took us a while to get going," said Philipsburg first baseman Tyler Good. "We've been off for almost a week and a half now. The second time through the lineup, I think we saw a big change in us."
"We didn't have an extra-base hit until the grand slam. That really got us rolling."
After a walk was sandwiched between two strikeouts from Clarence relief pitcher Jon Romine, Good joined the homer party with a two-run blast to give Philipsburg a 14-4 lead, which was plenty for Josh Potter.
Following a quiet fourth inning, Clarence got its last run off the bat of Fisher as he connected on a 2-2 pitch to hit his second jack of the day.
After the home run, Josh Potter was cool and calm on the mound. He threw six innings and gave up three earned runs and struck out seven Clarence batters.
"Josh threw really well for us today," said Good. "He came in and threw a lot of strikes. To keep them at five runs, that's a great day on the mound for him."
"He found out that he was pitching this morning. For him to come in a couple hours later and throw like he did, he threw great."
Mostyn was hit by a pitch to start the bottom of the fifth inning. Two batters later, A.J. Robinson drove in Mostyn easily on a triple in the right-center field gap. Then, Good added on to his already big day with his second two-run homer to left field. Good was 4-for-4 with two homers, two singles, four runs scored and four runs driven in.
"I saw the ball well today," said Good. "On that 3-2 pitch, I was just looking to put it in play."
The Pirates added six more runs in the sixth inning on just four hits.
Curtis was 4-for-6 with three runs scored on the day. Eight of the nine batters in Philipsburg's starting lineup had at least one hit in the contest.
With a 1-0 lead in the series, the Pirates travel to Clarence tomorrow afternoon. First pitch is scheduled for 2.
Clarence-5
McNamara ss 4010, Ju. Koleno p-rf 4110, Kochik c 4010, J. Schall 2b 2112, Fisher 3b 4222, Bra. Young lf 3120, Bre. Young lf 1000, Je. Koleno rf 1010, Romine p 3010, D. Schall cf 2001, Verbitsky cf 1000, Urbanick 1b 2000, G. Schall 1b 1010. Totals: 32-5-11-5.
Philipsburg-23
Curtis 2b 6340, Je. Potter 3b 6224, Mostyn ss 5322, Shaffer dh 4311, Jo. Potter p-cf 0000, Robinson rf 5334, Good 1b 4444, Daye lf 3111, Winters lf 2111, Mason c 3101, Watson cf-p 5222. Totals: 43-23-20-20.
Score by Innings
Clarence 11 2 010 0-5 11 6
Philipsburg 00(14) 036 x-23 20 2
Errors-Fisher 3, Bra. Young, Urbanick, McNamara; Curtis, Mostyn. LOB-Clarence 8, Philipsburg 7. 2B-Robinson. 3B-Robinson. HR-J. Schall (solo, 3rd), Fisher 2 (solo, 3rd), (solo, 5th); Je. Potter (grand slam, 3rd), Good 2 (1 on, 3rd), (1 on, 5th). SF-J. Schall. SB-Kochik. HBP-Mostyn (by Romine), Mason (by Romine).
Pitching
Clarence: Ju. Koleno-2+ IP, 13 H, 12 R, 10 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO; Romine-4 IP, 7 H, 11 R, 10 ER, 3 BB, 4 SO.
Philipsburg: Jo. Potter-6 IP, 11 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 7 SO; Watson-1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO.
WP-Jo. Potter. LP-Ju. Koleno.
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