DuBOIS, Pa. (EYT/D9) – The Dubois Central Catholic baseball team made the most of their limited scoring chances and lack of base hits to come away with a 5-1 victory over Clarion-Limestone to claim the District 9 Class A baseball championship Monday afternoon at Showers Field.
(Photos by Diane Lutz)
The Cardinals drew eight walks and also had four batters hit by pitches by starter Bryson Huwar and reliever Tommy Smith.
C-L outhit the Cardinals 4-3, but the Lions were unable to muster much else off of the DCC duo of Brandin Anderson and Cole Sansom.
“That’s just baseball for you,” said C-L head coach Todd Smith. “They took advantage of the walks and such and we weren’t able to get much going with the limited opportunities that we had today.”
C-L standout pitcher Bryson Huwar lasted just two-plus innings, allowing three earned runs on just one hit, but he walked five and hit two batters. Tommy Smith pitched four innings, allowing two earned runs on two hits. He walked three and hit two batters.
“Bryson threw a lot of pitches this past week, but he wanted to try it today, so we figured he deserved that opportunity,” said Todd Smith.
Neither team scored in the first as Logan Lutz led off the game with a walk before Anderson retired the next three batters. The same happened in the bottom of the inning as Aiden Snowberger walked before Huwar retired the next three Cardinal hitters.
C-L got a pair of singles with one out in the second from Nick Aaron and Corbin Coulson. Aaron was thrown out trying to reach third on a wild pitch. Coulson did reach third on another wild pitch, but a strikeout ended the threat.
In the bottom of the inning, Kaden Brezenski walked to lead off the inning before Sansom hit into a double play. A hit batter and two walks then loaded the bases before Snowberger hit a ground rule double down the left field line to drive in two runs before a strikeout ended the inning with the Cardinals ahead 2-0.
“We got that one double play which we were on a high from then a couple walks and a hit batter and a little flare drove in a couple runs,” said Smith. “Bryson just didn’t have his best command today though we still have games to play.”
Tommy Smith hit a double off the wall after two outs in the third inning but was stranded at second.
Sansom hit an RBI double to drive in Braydon Fox, who had walked to start the inning, to give DCC a 3-0 lead after three.
Matt Pyne drove in a run with a ground out in the fourth to push the lead to 4-0.
The Cardinals scored their final run without the benefit of a hit as Carter Hickman was hit by a pitch to lead off the fifth before later scoring on a wild pitch for a 5-0 lead.
C-L scored their lone run in the top of the sixth inning as Tommy Smith led off with a walk. Huwar hit a ground ball to shortstop who misplayed the ball putting runners on first and second. Jordan Hesdon then singled to drive in Smith. However, Sansom settled down to retire the next three batters to keep the score 4-1.
Anderson worked the first five innings allowing no runs on three hits. He walked one and struck out five.
Sansom allowed one run on one hit in two innings. He walked two and struck out three.
Tommy Smith, Hesdon, Aaron, and Coulson collected the four hits for the Lions.
Snowberger collected two hits and two RBI’s for DCC while Sansom added one hit with an RBI.
Both teams will move on to play in the PIAA state playoffs which begin on June 6.
“The bottom line today is that we didn’t capitalize on our chances and they did which is what really good teams do and DCC has a really good team,” coach Smith said.
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