Thursday, March 28, 2024

Sankey notches 300th career win

PHILIPSBURG — Every game the Philipsburg-Osceola Mounties manage to win over arch-rival Clearfield is an important one, but the 6-4 win on April 20 over the Bison took on an additional significance.

That’s because the win was the 300th in the 25-year career of head coach Doug Sankey at Philipsburg-Osceola High School.

Sankey, who took over at P-O in 1997, now has a career record of 302-201 after the Mounties added two more wins — one over Clearfield again and another over defending state champion Tyrone. P-O is now 6-2 for the season and in second place in Mountain League standings, one game behind first place Bellefonte.

“It felt good to get the 300th win,” Sankey said. “It just means that I’ve been coaching a long time.

“We’ve had so many great players over the years — 40 have gone on to play in college and five have played professionally — and I’ve had tremendous assistant coaches. Coach Tyler Good has been with me the longest, and I know that I get the credit for the wins, but it is a team effort for sure.

“I was very lucky to get the head coaching position at age 24. The athletic director, Dick Wood, was very supportive and he helped me a great deal, as did Jim Gonder, the softball coach. I appreciate all they did for me,” he said.

“I still love teaching the game of baseball, and I love working with the kids and coaches, trying to put the best product on the field.

“Philipsburg and Osceola Mills are great baseball towns, and the players coming up through the program are well coached,” Sankey said. “I hope that my players have learned the game and that they had a good experience.”

Sankey’s present team is thick into the race for league and district honors and will be back in action this week with games against Bald Eagle Area on Thursday and State College on Saturday.

CENTRE COUNTY ROUNDUP

Centre County high school baseball teams were beginning to hit their strides as they entered the final week of April. Penns Valley picked up its first three wins before losing, 7-6, in a very close game to Bellefonte. And the Raiders are now 10-1 after the win over Penns Valley and another over Bald Eagle Area on April 22. Philipsburg-Osceola is keeping pace in the Mountain League and is just one game behind the Raiders with a 6-1 record.

P-O

The Mounties improved their record to 6-2 for the season (6-1 in the Mountain League) and now find themselves just a game behind 10-1 Bellefonte in the league standings. On April 20 in Clearfield, Brandon Hahn had three hits and Jeremy Whitehead had two as P-O held off a late Bison rally and recorded a 6-4 league win.

The Mounties scored four runs in the fourth inning and took a 6-1 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning. But Clearfield mounted a three-run rally, highlighted with a two-run double by Morgan Billotte, that brought up the tying run to the plate with two outs. Reliever Nick Coudriet, however, was able to get the final out on a fly ball to center field that gave P-O its fourth win.

The next day, playing Clearfield again in a make-up game in Philipsburg, the Mounties again held off a late Bison rally and posted a 7-6 win. Philipsburg entered the seventh inning ahead 7-4, but Clearfield again rallied with two outs when RBI singles by Cole Bloom and Ryan Gearhart brought the Bison to within one run.

This time it was reliever Denny Prestash who forced the final out on a grounder to second base. Coudriet and Jamey Massung each had RBI doubles for P-O, and pitcher Colby Hahn took the win. Then on Monday, the Mounties kept it going with a 6-2 win in Tyrone over the Golden Eagles.

In this one, P-O was nursing a one-run lead heading into the seventh inning when an RBI double by Brandon Hahn and RBI singles by Ben Gustkey and Coudriet plated three runs and gave the Mounties a commanding 6-2 lead going into the bottom of the inning.

Winning pitcher Dave Meersand, who went the distance in the game, then clinched the win by getting a strikeout, ground out, and fly out. It was the team’s second victory this year over the defending state champs and sixth win overall. Philipsburg will now face much-improved BEA at home on April 28 and then travel to State College on Saturday, April 30.

BELLEFONTE NOW AT 10-1

Peyton Vancas, Derek Fravel and Braedyn Kormanic each homered, and Fravel pitched a complete-game, four-hitter as Bellefonte sprinted to a 7-1 win over Bald Eagle Area on April 22 in Wingate.

Kormanic and Vancas combined for five RBIs in the game as the Raiders collected seven hits overall and won their ninth game of the season. BEA scored its only run on a home run by Hayden Vaughn in the fifth inning. Then on Monday, April 25, the Raiders barely escaped at home with a 7-6, eight-inning victory over fast-improving Penns Valley.

Triston Heckman singled home Kormanic with the winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning with two outs to steal the win from a very game Ram team. In fact, Penns Valley almost went ahead in the top of the seventh inning after a single by Miles Brooks tied the game at 6-6, but Luke Confer was thrown out at home on the same play for the third out.

A score there by PV, with Bellefonte going out 1-2-3 in its seventh, would have given the game to the Rams. Bellefonte had nine hits in the game, with Fravel leading the way with a double and three singles. Alex Ebeling got the win with two innings in relief. Bellefonte will now travel to Huntingdon on April 28 and then to St. Marys on April 30.

PENNS VALLEY WINS FIRST THREE

Coming into its game against St. Joseph’s Academy on April 20, Penns Valley was 0-5-1 for the season and still looking for its first win. That win came that day as the Rams’ McClain Welshans threw a complete-game, one-hitter and Penns Valley broke through with a 4-0 victory over the Wolfpack.PV only had four hits itself in the game — two by centerfielder Malachi Thompson — but it scored single runs in the first and fourth innings and two in the sixth to take the win.

Two days later against Huntingdon at home, the Rams got another dominant pitching performance — this time from senior Ty Houtz who threw a four-hit shutout at the Bearcats and led the way to a 2-0 victory.

The Rams scored the only runs in the game on a two-run single by Dalton Kieth, but that was more than enough with Houtz holding Huntingdon to just a total of four hits and four base runners. Then on Saturday, April 23, Penn Valley prevailed in another close game, this time with a 5-3 victory over league rival Clearfield at home.

The Rams led 5-1 heading into the sixth inning, but the Bison scored twice to pull to within two runs. But Lyons took over in relief in the seventh and set Clearfield down without a threat to secure the win. PV had nine hits, led by Houser and Welshans with two each. Welshans also had two RBIs and a stolen base.