HYDE – Before this week, nobody would have mentioned Clearfield and the District 9 Northern Allegany League Big School Division baseball championship in the same sentence.
Now, the Bisons are in control of their own destiny as far as getting at least a share of the first-year circuit\’s title after completing a three-day, three-game sweep of D9NAL opponents with a crucial 14-9 victory over Punxsutawney at the Bison Sports Complex Thursday afternoon.
The Bisons packed their 14 hits into two big outbursts, three-run homers by Kyle Timchak and Jarrin Campman the key blows, and got more than enough good innings from seldom-used pitchers Aaron Sayers and Chad Zurat for their sixth consecutive win, hiking their D9NAL record to 5-2.
Front-running DuBois is 7-2 for its finale at Punxsy Friday, and the 6-3 Chucks must avenge a 9-5 loss to the Beavers on April 24 to keep their title hopes alive. They had won six games in a row since that setback.
A Punxsy win would give Clearfield a shot at grabbing the crown outright with wins over Bradford Monday, Brookville Wednesday and St. Marys Thursday, a tall order considering the Bisons also are booked to play Williamsport Tuesday and Altoona Friday.
First, the Bisons can savor a satisfying victory over the Chucks, who nipped them 5-4 in nine innings on April 16.
Seniors Timchak and Campman picked opportune times to crank their first varsity homers, but Clearfield got offensive production from throughout the lineup.
Campman and Parker Herrington collected three hits apiece, Corey Bookhamer and Derek Danver cracked pairs of RBI-singles and Tanner St. Clair belted a two-run triple.
And most of the hits were tagged.
\”We were on the ball today,\” Bison coach Sid Lansberry said.
Clearfield (8-5) grabbed a 6-1 lead in the second inning, Timchak breaking the 1-1 tie by lofting his home run over the fence in right.
\”That was a big one,\” Lansberry said. \”He had a big hit (Wednesday) night, a three run-double.\”
The Bisons weren\’t finished, though.
Campman lined a single to right, stole second and raced home on Herrington\’s single up the middle.
Punxsy (9-5) closed the gap with a four-spot off Sayers in the third. Tyler Skerkavich singled for two runs and Braedon Pennington made it 6-4 with an RBI-single before they pulled off a double steal for the final tally.
The Chucks might have scored a lot more if Herrington hadn\’t backhanded Dylan Voris\’ grounder in the hole at short and alertly fired to Danver at third to nail Pennington for the second out.
\”That\’s a heck of a play, even to get to the ball and knock it down,\” Lansberry said. \”Plays like that are what we\’ve been able to come up with lately. We weren\’t making those plays last year. That\’s why we got 10-runned a few times.\”
Sayers surrendered his sixth walk before ending his first start with a groundout.
\”Sayers gave us what we needed, three innings,\” Lansberry said. \”He kept us in the game. That\’s the first he\’s pitched really. He had a relief stint against Punxsy the last time. I was pleased with him.\”
Zurat worked the final four innings for his first win, allowing four earned runs and striking out five.
\”Chad came in and did a great job,\” Lansberry said. \”He throws hard. He needs work on his curve ball, but he really hasn\’t worked that much.
\”He\’s got a live arm. He\’ll help us down the road.\”
The Bisons took the pressure off the junior right-hander by exploding for eight runs after the Chucks had knotted the score at 6-6 in the top of the fourth inning.
Punxsy starter Jacob Stumpf exited after consecutive hits by Campman, Herrington, St. Clair and Bookhamer produced three runs.
Reliever Joel Cressley didn\’t fare much better.
Justin Hoffman singled to left, Sayers walked and Danver ripped a single to center to plate Bookhamer for a 10-6 lead.
One out later, the Bisons avoided a double play on Matt Lonjin\’s hard grounder to short because Danver went hard into second base and the junior catcher beat the throw to first.
Their hustle, magnified when Campman followed with a blast into the netting behind the fence in left, was lauded by Lansberry.
\”The inning would have been over with four less runs,\” he pointed out. \”Now, we\’re down to the last inning up by one instead of five. That\’s the key there, little things like that.\”
Dakota Bish whacked a two-run homer and Pennington had an RBI-groundout for Punxsy in the sixth, but Zurat finished strong by retiring the Chucks on three grounders to Danver.
Bish, Skerkavich and Tommy Bush had two hits apiece for the Chucks.
Skerkavich relieved Cressley and quieted the Bison bats in the fifth and sixth innings.
PUNXSUTAWNEY — 9
Dakota Bish c 3322, Tyler Grayson rf 0000, Tyler Wingard dh 3210, Tommy Bush 3b 2221, Tyler Skerkavich 1b-p 4022, Braedon Pennington cf-lf 3012, Jacob Stumpf p-cf 4000, Dylan Voris lf 2000, Joel Cressley p-1b 2000, Kyle Neal 2b 1000, Sean Smith ph-2b 2000, Dylan Kachmar ss 2100. TOTALS: 28 9 8 7.
CLEARFIELD — 14
Jarrin Campman 2b 5333, Parker Herrington ss 5231, Tanner St. Clair 2112, Corey Bookhamer 1b 4222, Justin Hoffman 2110, Aaron Sayers p-cf 3210, Derek Danver 3b 4122, Chad Zurat cf-p 0000, Kyle Timchak dh 4113, Matt Lonjin 3101, Andrew Redden ph 1000. TOTALS: 33 14 14 14.
Score by Innings:
Punxsutawney 104 103 0 – 9 8 2
Clearfield 060 800 x – 14 14 1
Errors – Voris, Neal; Sayers. PB – Lonjin. LOB – Punxsutawney 7; Clearfield 6. 2B – Herrington. 3B – St. Clair. HR – Bish; Campman (1); Timchak (1). SB – Skerkavich, Pennington; Campman 3.
Pitching
Punxsutawney – Stumpf 3+ IP (Faced 4 batters in 4th), 10 H, 10 R, 7 ER, 2 K, 2 BB; Cressley 1 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 1 K; Skerkavich 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K.
Clearfield – Sayers 3 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 6 BB, 4 K; Zurat 4 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 5 K.
WP – Sayers 1; Zurat 1.
W – Zurat (1-0). L – Stumpf (0-3).
