DUBOIS, Pa. – One can tell a lot about a team in the way they handle pressure.
So far, the 2024 Clarion baseball team is handling that pressure well.
With nine starters back from the school’s first PIAA baseball title a year ago, the expectations for the Bobcats have been sky-high all season.
And so far, Clarion has answered the bell.
The Bobcats showed that again Tuesday night, winning their second consecutive District 9 Class 1A title with a 10-1 win over rival DuBois Central Catholic at Showers Field in DuBois.
Rewatch the game
“They’ve had a lot of pressure on them, and they were just able to handle it and move on,” Clarion manager Rob Jewett said. “They’re good ball players. That’s a really good team over there (pointing to DCC). I thought Carter (Himes) pitched a heck of a game. We were able to battle him. It feels good to win another one.”
Clarion won the way they have been winning all season – great pitching, good defense, timely hitting, and a big inning.
The Bobcats took advantage of a number of DCC fielding miscues that led to four unearned runs.
DCC had two errors and two misplayed fly balls that led directly to runs for Clarion.
“We knew that was going to be an issue coming with the lighting at night,” Jewett said. “I knew the outfield, once that ball gets up over them, you really have to communicate. That’s the game of baseball. It could happen to us, unfortunately, it happened to them and we were able to take advantage of it.”
While Clarion’s offense was taking advantage of what it got, the Bobcats were getting a vintage performance from Devon Lauer.
Lauer, who was unhittable a year ago, came into the game with a 4.72 ERA but looked like the Lauer of old allowing one run on two hits and two walks in four innings of work to get the win.
“Devon wanted the ball,” Jewett said. “I was like, you go get them. He pitched a heck of a game. I thought he did a good job last outing, too. I think he started finding spots. We worked a little bit with mechanics. He is back to his old self, which is great.”
Tanner Miller followed Lauer with two scoreless innings allowing a hit while striking out two, and Derek Smail had a pair of strikeouts while hitting a batter to finish things off.
Photo by Chris Rossetti
Offensively, Clarion once again found the one big inning to put the game away,
Ahead 3-1 going to the bottom of the sixth, the Bobcats left no doubt who the champion was going to be scoring seven times in the innings with Matt Alston delivering a two-run double and Dawson Smail a two-run triple.
“I think they feed off of sparks,” Jewett said. “Somebody will spark something and it’s contagious. I know that sounds cliche, but this team really does feed off good things happening. Whether it be a double or a bunt or some little things. They just feed off that, and they pick each other up. It is pretty cool to see, they do the little things right.”
Dawson Smail, Clarion’s senior shortstop who is committed to D1 Xavier, led the offense going 3-for-4 with a triple, three runs scored, and two RBIs. He was named the Allegheny Grille of Foxburg Player of the Game.
“I was just really feeling it,” Smail said on the Cole Orthodontic Associates postgame interview. “I was seeing pitches really well. Even when I was falling into two-strike counts. I just adjusted my approach and put the barrel on the bat.”
DCC actually led 1-0 after Aiden Snowberger led off the game with a walk, was bunted to second, took third on a wild pitch, and scored on a sac fly by Brayden Fox.
But Clarion tied the game in the bottom of the inning on the first of the DCC miscues.
Dawson Smail led off with a single, and Bryce Brinkley sacrificed him to second. But no one covered third, and Smail kept running. Fox, the first baseman, then threw wild to third allowing Smail to score.
Another miscue cost the Cardinals a pair of runs in the third.
With two outs, Dawson Smail singled to right, and Brinkley lofted a fly ball to left that left fielder Xavier Schwenter dropped allowing Smail to score and Brinkley to go to second.
Noah Harrison then hit a fly ball to center, but Snowberger, the centerfielder, misjudged the ball and went back on it. By the time he realized it was in front of him, it dropped in for a base hit with Brinkley scoring to make it 3-1.
The game stayed at 3-1 until the seven-run sixth which was helped by another DCC miscue on a ball hit by Derek Smail that right fielder Tristan Sedor played into a triple and included the big hits by Alston, who was 2-for-3 with two doubles and two RBIs, and Dawson Smail.
“It feels amazing,” Dawson Smail said. “They are my brothers. We do this together all the time. There is no stopping for us. It feels awesome.”
Both teams enter the PIAA playoffs on opposite ends of the bracket.
Clarion will be in the western side of the bracket and play the District 6 runner-up, while DCC goes out east and plays the District 6 champion.
The D6 championship game is set for Wednesday between Bishop McCort and Bishop Carroll.
Last year, DCC reached its second straight PIAA title game by getting through the eastern side of the bracket while Clarion got there through the west. The Bobcats then beat the Cardinals, 4-1, for the PIAA title. The PIAA playoffs start on Monday.
“We have to keep playing like we do,” Dawson Smail said. “We can’t beat ourselves. I don’t think there is another team that can beat us. The only people who are going to beat us are ourselves.”
Watch Dawson Smail’s full interview
