HYDE – Derek Danver drove in David Welker with a two-out single in the ninth inning to give the Clearfield Chiefs a 4-3 win over DuBois Friday evening at the Bison Sports Complex in the completion of Thursday\’s suspended first round game of the Jefferson County Legion Baseball League Playoffs.
The Chiefs, who finished second in the regular season, will travel to Punxsutawney Saturday afternoon for the winner\’s bracket final at two o\’clock. Punxsy nipped Brookville 5-4 Friday.
The winner will host the championship game Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. The loser will play again Sunday at home at 2 p.m. against the winner of today\’s Brookville-DuBois game.
Michael Moyer was the beneficiary of Danver\’s clutch hit after pitching five strong innings in relief.
Corey Bookhamer had pitched four-hit ball Thursday, when play was halted because of lightning and rain with Clearfield leading 3-2.
\”We weren\’t sure whether to go back to Bookhamer or not,\” Chiefs manager Sid Lansberry said. \”But he did pitch four innings, so we decided to go with a fresher arm. And Moyer pitched really well.\”
DuBois stayed with Jeremy Smith, who had worked one inning in relief of James Pryde Thursday. Matt McNally relieved in the seventh and took the loss.
All of the hurlers were pitching from the stretch a lot as both teams had plenty of scoring opportunities. However, neither team scored until the ninth inning, as DuBois stranded nine runners and Clearfield left 10 on over the last five frames.
\”Moyer pitched out of some situations with men on base,\” Lansberry said. \”That was a good job by him.\”
He was aided by a pair of double plays, giving the Chiefs three twinkillings for the second game in a row.
In the ninth, DuBois (11-10) tied the score on a walk, Zac Burley\’s sacrifice bunt and John Hartzfeld\’s two-out single.
Another walk and then a wild pitch by Moyer put two runners in scoring position for Garrett Marsh, who hit a shot that shortstop Adam Jury turned into a game-saving defensive gem.
\”It was one of those blue-darters,\” Lansberry said, \”but Adam went to his left, short-hopped it and threw him out. That was a key play because that was two runs.\”
Clearfield (21-8-1) answered with three hits for the winning run off McNally.
Welker singled to right center with one and the Chiefs were down to their last out when Moyer kept the inning alive with a two-strike liner to right, sending Welker to third. Danver followed with his two-strike grounder through the left side to end it.
Moyer gave up five hits and five walks while striking out three for his fourth win of the season.
Jury, who had a solo homer Thursday, Welker and Kyle Kline had two hits apiece for the Chiefs.
DUBOIS – 3
Josh Means ss 4110, Jon Wayland lf 2000, Zac Burley lf 1010, Sean Zimmerman 1b 2010, John Hartzfeld c 5011, Phil Smith 3b 3120, James Pryde p 0000, Jeremy Smith p, Mike Gralla dh 3110, Garrett Marsh dh-rf 2000, Mike Hassan cf 2001, Andrew Welch cf 0000, Matt McNally rf-p 3021, T.J. Anderson 2b 4000. TOTALS: 31 3 9 3.
CLEARFIELD – 4
Adam Jury ss 5121, James Zimmermann 2b 5110, Kyle Kline 3b 4020, Jarrin Campman lf 3100, David Welker cf 4120, Aaron Sayers rf 2000, Justin Hoffman rf 2000, Michael Moyer 1b-p 4010, Corey Bookhamer p-1b 0000, Chris Barr dh 1001, Derek Danver dh 1011, Wil Bacharach c 4010. TOTALS: 35 4 10 3.
Score by Innings:
DuBois 020 000 001 – 3 9 2
Clearfield 003 000 001 – 4 10 2
Errors – Wayland, P. Smith; Campman, Hoffman. PB – Hartzfeld 1; Bacharach 1. DP – Clearfield 3 (Bookhamer, Jury and Moyer; Jury, Zimmermann and Bookhamer; Zimmermann, Jury and Bookhamer). LOB – DuBois 12; Clearfield 14. 2B – P. Smith, Gralla. HR – Jury. Sac – Burley; Kline. SF – Hassan.
Pitching
DuBois – Pryde 3 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 2 K; J. Smith 3-1/3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K; McNally 2-1/3, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K.
Clearfield – Bookhamer – 4 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K; Moyer 5 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 5 BB, 3 K.
HB – Pryde 1 (Campman); Bookhamer 1 (Zimmerman). WP – Pryde 1, J. Smith 1; Bookhamer 1
W – Moyer (4-3). L – McNally.
Umpires – Joe Shick (home), Dale Shaw (bases).
