In each of their last four games the Bellwood-Antis baseball team has given up at least one inning in which their opponent has sent every hitter in their lineup to bat. Juniata Valley and Mount Union did it twice. That means a minimum of three runs scored, even if the Blue Devils escapes with the bases loaded, per inning. The B-A offense has performed from behind for much of the early season, but has scored at least six runs in every game. That should be enough to win in high school baseball.
On Friday afternoon at Bellwood’s Stadium Drive, once again the offense was there, but Bellefonte sent eight hitters to the plate in the fourth inning and then proceeded to bat around in the fifth. Between the two innings, 10 runs crossed the plate in what would be a 15-7 loss for the Blue Devils, their fourth in a row after opening the season with a promising win over a tough Philipsburg-Osceola ballclub.
Cody Young was the big gun for the Warriors, bashing a three-run homer in the fourth to open the scoring after the two teams had battled scoreless through the first two innings.
Then after Bellwood-Antis scored a run to slice the lead to 3-1, Young delivered a two-run single and Zach Robbins added a two-run double to highlight a six-run fifth for Bellefonte to run the lead back out to a more comfortable 13-2.
Bellwood-Antis would score three times in the bottom of the fourth once in the sixth and twice in their last at bat in the seventh, but those runs left the Blue Devils still far behind.
The first inning produced an ominous omen when the Blue Devils combined for three hits, but couldn’t score a run.
Josh Kleinfelter led off the B-A first by lining a double off the 30-foot high fence in left. Andy Brisbin scratched a seeing-eye single through the left side of the infield to reach base, but Kleinfelter was caught wondering too far off second base and thrown out. Designated hitter Chris Alley followed with a single to right center, but Bellefonte’s Todd Orndorf, who went the distance for Bellefonte, struck out the next two B-A batters to end the threat without a score.
The Blue Devils put two tallies on the board in the third to come right back following Young’s dinger. Kleinfelter drew a one-out walk and with two gone, Alley singled and first baseman Fred Dorman scored Kleinfelter with a base hit that Bellefonte second baseman Young made a fantastic play on to keep the ball from going into center field, but couldn’t do anything with it.
In the fourth stanza, Tyler McClellan opened the frame for the Blue Devils, with the first of three straight hits for the B-A senior. Adam DeArmitt forced McClellan at second for the first out, but singles by starting pitcher Troy Brunner and Brian Hostler scored DeArmitt after both runners moved up a base on a wild pitch. When the Bellefonte left fielder allowed Hostler’s base hit to get past him, Brunner also scored. Kleinfelter, who reached base three straight times, singled and Brisbin scored Hostler with an RBI groundout.
Brandon Beech singled to begin the sixth inning and scored when Orndorf threw the ball away trying to get Brisbin out at first after Andy struck out on a pitch in the dirt.
In their final turn at bat, Bellwood-Antis couldn’t get all they needed, but did score twice more.
Chad Coho was safe on an error by Young, and Kyle Drost ripped a single to center. McClellan drove in Coho with a single and Drost came home from third base on a wild pitch.
Troy Brunner picked up the loss for the Blue Devils going four innings plus, yielding eight runs on 11 hits, striking out one and walking none. Kyle Drost pitched 2/3 of an inning, walking one and giving up five hits and five runs. Brian Hostler, a sophomore making his first appearance on the mound, fanned four and walked one allowing three hits and two runs over the final two and 1/3 innings.
Orndorf struck out eight and walked one, to pick up the victory, although giving up 13 hits and seven runs, six earned and throwing in excess of 135 pitches.
Bellwood-Antis (1-4) is back on the field today at 12 noon, hosting undefeated Central (3-0).
Bellefonte 15 Bellwood-Antis 7
Bellefonte – Young, 2b, 4-2-3; James, 3b, 5-2-2; Jones, ss, 4-1-1; Z. Robbins, rf, 5-0-3; Lutz, lf, 4-1-1; Cunningham, lf, 1-0-0; Kerr, 2, 3-0-3; Day, cr-ph, 0-2-0; Burger, 1b, 2-2-1; Burke, 1b, 1-0-1; Orndorf, p, 0-0-0; Pearce, dh, 2-3-2, Dixon, dh, 1-0-0; Truesdale, cf, 3-2-2; C. Robbins, ph, 0-0-0. TOTALS 36-15-19.
Bellwood-Antis – Kleinfelter, lf, 2-1-2; Kelley, ph, 1-0-0; Brisbin, 2b, 4-0-1; Winterstein, c, 1-0-0; Alley, dh, 3-0-2; Dorman, 1b, 3-0-1; Coho, 1b, 1-1-0; Drost 3b-p, 4-1-1; McClellan, rf, 4-0-3; DeArmitt, cf, 4-1-0; Brunner, p, 2-1-1; Beech, 3b-ss, 2-1-1; Hostler, ss-p, 3-1-1; Seidel, ph, 1-0-0.
Bellefonte 003 461 1 13-19-3.
Bellwood-Antis 001 301 2 7-13-1.
2B: Z. Robbins 2, Kerr 2, James 1, Jones 1, Lutz 1, Truesdale 1, Kleinfelter 1.
HR: Young 1.
RBI: Young 5, Z. Robbins 2, James 1, Jones 1, Kerr 1, Truesdale 1, C. Robbins 1.
SO: Orndorf 8, Brunner 1, Hostler 4.
BB: Orndorf 1, Drost 1 Hostler 1.
WP: Orndorf LP: Brunner.
