The fans at Bellwood’s Stadium Drive baseball field would never have believed it was the first game of the high school baseball season. Neither team committed an error and three Bellwood-Antis pitchers walked just three Philipsburg-Osceola batters in a 10-4 season-opening win.
Sophomore Ernie Kelley tossed the first three innings for the Blue Devils and did a good job before getting to his pitch count. Kelley pitched in and out of trouble, as Philipsburg-Osceola managed to put two runners on base in each of the three innings, but could only capitalize on a second-inning single by A. J. Czap which scored Jeremy Beals, who singled up the middle and advanced to second on a walk to Mounties starting pitcher Ryan Marcinko. Kelley fanned five and walked just one before giving way to Chris Alley and Troy Brunner on the mound.
Bellwood-Antis took the early lead in the bottom of the first and never looked back to pick up their first win.
With one out, Andy Brisbin drew the first of his three bases on balls and scored when Chris Alley drove the first pitch from Marcinko high off the new screen in center field, missing a home run by about three feet. After Brunner flew out, designated hitter Fred Dorman smacked a Marcinko pitch over the high fence. The B-A school district has installed a 30-feet high chainlink fence from the left field foul line to straight-away center field to help prevent baseballs from crashing into the houses beyond the old fence which was only about four feet high.
Dorman’s blast also scored Alley to give B-A a quick 3-0 advantage.
After the Mounties scored in the second to cut their deficit to 3-1, the Blue Devils batted around to score six more times in the bottom of the second. Tyler McClellan started the at bat with a double and L. J. Seidel brought him home with a single to center. Adam DeArmitt forced Seidel at second and Josh Kleinfelter and Brisbin both walked to load the bases and bring in Ryan Scaife to pitch for Philipsburg. Alley drilled his second straight double to score DeArmitt and Kleinfelter. Brunner walked to reload the sacks and Dorman singled to drive home Brisbin. Alley and Brunner scored on wild pitches to cap the six-run inning.
“It was nice to get out big early,” said Bellwood-Antis coach Steve Conlon. “I think that gave us a lot of confidence. We have some guys who hadn’t seen a pitch in years playing baseball, get in there and put the ball in play. That’s what we need in a game like today.”
The Blue Devils scored once more in the third. DeArmitt doubled to open the third and scored on a wild pitch.
Alley replaced Kelley on the mound for Bellwood-Antis, pitching two innings, giving up three runs on four hits, with one strikeout and two walks. Brunner allowed a single to Czap to begin the sixth, but then retired six straight batters, two on strikeouts, including the final out of the game to pick up the win.
“Overall this was a game out here, no errors the first game outside,” said Conlon. “It was a great way to start the season. Pitching was really good, starting with Ernie Kelley, who did a great job for three innings. Then Chris Alley came in for two and didn’t do bad and Troy Brunner finished up. Defense and pitching were definitely there.”
Jeremy Beals had a single and double and two RBIs and Czap and Matt Adams each had two singles to lead the Mounties. Adams crushed a home run in the 2004 game, also played at Bellwood, when the Blue Devils came from trailing 7-0 to pull out a 10-8 win over P-O.
The Blue Devils (1-0) are at home for their first MAC division game on Friday when they host Juniata Valley at 4:30 p.m.
Bellwood-Antis 10 Philipsburg-Osceola 4
Philipsburg-Osceola – Czap,cf , 3-0-2; Emigh, 2B, 3-0-0; Adams, c, 4-0-2; Davis, cr, 0-0-0; Mostyn, ss, 3-1-1; Good, 1B, 4-1-1; Beals, 3B, 4-2-2; Marcinko, p, 0-0-0; Scaife, p, 0-0-0, McCamley, ph, 1-0-0; Luzier, lf, 2-0-0; Winters, lf-p, 3-0-1; Supko, rf, 3-0-1. TOTALS 30-4-10.
Bellwood-Antis – Kleinfelter, cf, 3-1-0; Brisbin, 2B, 1-2-0; Alley, ss-p, 3-2-2; Brunner, 3B-p, 3-1-0; Winterstein, c, 0-0-0; Dorman, dh, 4-1-2; Kelley, p, 1-0-0; Beech, 3B-ss, 2-0-0; McClellan, 1B, 3-1-1; Coho, ph, 0-0-0; Seidel, rf, 3-0-1; DeArmitt, lf, 2-2-1. TOTALS 25-10-7.
Philipsburg-Osceola 010 030 0 4-10-0.
Bellwood-Antis 361 000 X 10-7-0.
2B: Mostyn 1, Beals 1, Alley 2, DeArmitt 1.
HR: Dorman 1.
RBI: Beals 2, Winters 1, Czap 1, Alley 3, Dorman 3, Seidel 1.
SO: Marcinko 1, Winters 4, Kelley 5, Alley 1, Brunner 2.
BB: Marcinko 3, Scaife 2, Winters 4, Kelley 1, Alley 2.
WP: Brunner LP: Marcinko.
