NEW BETHLEHEM, Pa. (EYT/D9) – Tate Minich went 3-for-4 with a home run and five RBI as the Redbank Valley baseball team shook off a rough top of the first inning to down Clarion, 11-3, Tuesday afternoon.
(Above, Redbank Valley’s Tate Minich)
Clarion jumped out to a 3-0 lead after its first at-bat on RBIs by Devon Lauer, Chase Kriebel and Ryan Alston.
But the Bulldogs answered with two runs of their own in the bottom of the frame on a leadoff homer by Owen Clouse and a single by Minich.
Minich drove in two more runs in the second on a single to give Redbank the lead for good at 4-3.
Minich then dealt the biggest blow with a three-run homer to make it 9-3.
Bryson Bain picked up the win. He bounced back from the shaky first to throw five shutout innings and finished with five strikeouts in six inning of work.
Dawson Smail had two hits for Clarion.
Lauer picked up the loss. He lasted 1 1/3 innings, giving up four runs – two earned.
NORTH CLARION 2, A-C VALLEY/UNION 0 – Aiden Hartle was masterful on the mound for the Wolves, scattering five hits and striking out nine in a complete-game victory.
Hartle needed only 95 pitches over seven innings to complete his gem. He threw 66 for strikes.
Locked in a pitchers’ duel with Bailey Crissman, Hartle got the only run he needed for the victory in the top of the sixth when he scored on an error to make it 1-0. North Clarion tacked on an insurance run later in the inning on a RBI single by Drake Irwin.
The Wolves managed just three hits against Crissman and Gary Amsler, who struck out four in 1 2/3 innings of work.
Amsler also doubled.
Lane Bauer had two hits for A-C Valley/Union.
Crissman struck out nine and gave up just two hits in his 5 1/3 innings.
