DUBOIS – The Clearfield American Legion baseball team certainly has picked the right time to get red-hot at the plate.
Every starter had at least one safety and six had two or more as the Chiefs raked three DuBois pitchers for 20 hits, including two home runs by Adam Jury, to win an 18-12 slugfest at Showers Field Friday evening and climb into the driver\’s seat in the Jefferson County League Playoffs.
Knocking off the regular season champions on the heels of Wednesday\’s 13-hit, 12-5 victory over runner-up Punxsutawney moved Clearfield into Tuesday\’s title game.
Because they finished third, the Chiefs (17-12) will have to travel again. The loser\’s bracket final of the double-elimination tourney will send Punxsutawney (16-6) to DuBois (15-4) Sunday. Punxsy sidelined Brookville 11-5 Friday.
Clearfield manager Sid Lansberry can\’t remember the last time a Post 6 club put up offensive numbers in back-to-back games the way the Chiefs have begun the post-season trail.
\”Offensively, we\’ve come alive,\” he said. \”Everyone is hitting pretty well. Hopefully, we can keep it up.
\”To win the first two games certainly gives us an edge, but we don\’t have it wrapped up by any means. Last year, Punxsy won its first two games handily and then lost two games to Brookville on the same day.\”
DuBois or Punxsy pitching will have to shut down the Chiefs twice to prevent them from claiming the championship, which would appear to be a tall order the way they are making contact.
Jury punctuated Clearfield\’s offensive explosion with a grand slam home run in the eighth inning for a three-hit, five-RBI game, but he was just one of several Chiefs to deliver big hits.
Derek Danver delivered a clutch, two-out, two-run double to get the visitors rolling in the first inning and went on to collect three more hits and finish with three RBIs.
James Zimmermann capped a three-hit performance with a three-run double in Clearfield\’s pivotal seven-run fifth inning rally.
Starting pitcher Parker Herrington also had three hits, the first two driving in runs.
And Jarrin Campman and Aaron Sayers chipped in with pairs of singles.
Kasey Clinton and Phil Smith, two of the JCL\’s three representatives selected for the Legion East-West Game at Harrisburg next week, were the big guns for DuBois.
Clinton ripped a two-run homer in the first inning en route to a four-for-four game, while Smith hammered a game-tying, two-run homer in the third and finished with three hits and three RBIs.
Clearfield trailed 5-4 going to the fifth, but Jury quickly tied the score with a home run to right field.
Singles by Danver, Herrington and Kyle Kline loaded the bases against Rich Pruzinsky, who threw away Sayers\’ comebacker at first as Danver and Herrington scored. After Bookhamer singled in a run and Pruzinsky hit Campman, Zimmerman cleared the bases with his two-bagger to give the Chiefs an 11-5 cushion.
The gap widened to 14-6 in the seventh when Justin Hoffman singled home two runs and Danver added an RBI-single.
In the eighth, a single by Sayers and two walks set the stage for Jury\’s grand slam, a blast deep to left field.
\”We had a lot of big hits, but DuBois just kept chipping away,\” Lansberry said. \”I kind of suspected the game would go like that because of the hard-hitting lineup they have.
\”None of our pitchers did poorly. I just think DuBois has as many hitters as anybody does.\”
Hoffman, the second of three Chiefs who toed the rubber, was the winner in relief of Herrington, who gave up only two earned runs in four innings.
\”Herrington came out just because he was done,\” Lansberry explained. \”He had thrown 70 pitches, and it was so hot and humid.
\”I thought Hoffman would be a good change of pace after Herrington and could keep them off balance for a while. He did the first time through before they started timing his pitches.
Hoffman surrendered four hits and five earned runs before being relieved with one out in the eighth by Bookhamer, who allowed one unearned run in the ninth.
\”Bookhamer came in and did pretty well,\” Lansberry said.
The trio of Chiefs struck out six and walked four.
CLEARFIELD — 18
Jarrin Campman cf 5320, James Zimmermann 2b 5233, Kyle Timchak rf 0000, Adam Jury ss 5435, Justin Hoffman lf-p-lf 6112, Derek Danver 3b 6243, Parker Herrington p-rf-2b 6132, Kyle Kline rf-1b 5110, Aaron Sayers dh 6121, Matt Lonjin c 0000, Corey Bookhamer 1b-p 3011, Tanner St. Clair lf 0100. TOTALS: 47 18 20 17.
DUBOIS — 12
Jon Wayland cf 5111, T.J. Anderson ss 4100, Josh Means lf-p 6200, Kasey Clinton 1b 4242, Phil Smith 3b 5233, Garrett Marsh 2b-p-2b 4111, Brandon Maholtz dh-lf 4211, Rich Pruzinsky p-2b 0000, John Hartzfeld c 5021, Les Miller rf 3100. TOTALS: 40 12 12 9.
Score by Innings
Clearfield 301 070 340 – 18 20 6
DuBois 202 101 411 – 12 12 2
Errors – Zimmermann, Jury, Danver, Kline, Lonjin, Bookhamer; Smith, Marsh. DP – DuBois 1 (Anderson, Marsh and Clinton). LOB – Clearfield 9; DuBois 9. 2B – Zimmermann, Danver, Sayers; Clinton, Marsh. 3B – Maholtz. HR – Jury 2 (7, 8), Clinton, Smith. Sac – Miller.
Pitching
Clearfield – Herrington 4 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K; Hoffman 3-1/3 IP, 4 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 1 K; Bookhamer 1-2/3 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 K.
DuBois – Pruzinsky 4-1/3 IP, 15 H, 11 R, 10 ER, 0 BB, 1 K; Marsh 2-2/3 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 K; Means 2 IP, 2 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 3 K.
HB – Hoffman 2 (Anderson, Clinton); Pruzinsky 1 (Campman), Marsh 1 (Jury).
W – Hoffman (2-1). L – Pruzinsky.
