HYDE – The Clearfield American Legion Post 6 baseball team batted around in the fifth inning and scored five runs to overtake Curwensville for a 7-4 victory in Jefferson County League action at the Bison Sports Complex Tuesday evening.
Corey Bookhamer went the distance in his first start of the season, and Justin Hoffman cracked four singles to pace a 13-hit attack by the Chiefs.
Bookhamer aided his own cause with two doubles that led to runs, Jarrin Campman had a single and a double and Tanner St. Clair chipped in with two singles.
Those four combined for 10 hits and Derek Danver contributed a pair of sacrifice flies at the top of the lineup.
\”I wouldn\’t expect that,\” manager Sid Lansberry said after his Chiefs balanced their record at 3-3 with their second JCL win in as many games. \”I thought it would be like a 3-2 game with two good pitchers on the mound, but there were a lot of hits on both sides.\”
The Haymakers (0-3) got to Bookhamer for 10 safeties, including two apiece by McGary and Derek Dixon.
Bookhamer struck out three and walked five, while McGary had five strikeouts and two walks in his first outing for the Haymakers.
\”I thought Ben was throwing well,\” Lansberry said. \”He had a great changeup.\”
Well-hit doubles to right center by McGary and Brett Sutika and a single by Brett McCracken gave the Haymakers a 2-0 edge in the third inning.
Clearfield broke up McGary\’s shutout in the fourth on a two-out, base-loaded seeing-eye single through the middle by Matt Lonjin.
In their next at-bat, the Chiefs made it a 6-2 game.
Bookhamer slugged a double to deep right center, and courtesy runner Shane Harper moved to third on St. Clair\’s looping single to left before Danver\’s sacrifice fly to right tied the score.
Hoffman ripped a single to left and Kyle Timchak walked to load the bases. Aaron Sayers singled home the go-ahead run, pinch-hitter Luke Peterson got another run home with a groundout, and two more runs came around on Curwensville\’s lone error.
After run-scoring singles by Ianniq Ecklund and McGary narrowed the gap to 6-4 in the top of the sixth, Clearfield tacked on its final run when Bookhamer jerked a double into the right field corner, Harper ran for him again and scored on Danver\’s flyout to right.
Clearfield, 2-0 in the JCL and 3-3 overall, will travel to Brookville Thursday and host Punxsutawney Sunday at 5 p.m.
CURWENSVILLE — 4
Ben McGary p 4121, Mark Dell\’Antonio 1b 4010, Brett Sutika 2b 4111, Cory Bloom c 3011, Brett McCracken ss 4010, Airik Hutton rf 4010, Derek Dixon lf 3120, Tyler Johns 3b 0100, Ianniq Ecklund cf 3011. TOTALS: 29 4 10 4.
CLEARFIELD — 7
Jarrin Campman 2b 4020, Corey Bookhamer p 4220, Tanner St. Clair 3b 4120, Derek Danver ss 2002, Justin Hoffman rf 4240, Trevor Flanagan 1b 0000, Kyle Timchak dh 1110, Aaron Sayers cf 3111, Chad Zurat lf 2000, Luke Peterson ph 1001, Matt Lonjin c 3011. TOTALS: 28 7 13 5.
Score by Innings
Curwensville 002 002 0 – 4 10 1
Clearfield 000 151 x – 7 13 1
Errors – Johns; Lonjin. PB – Bloom 1. LOB – Curwensville 8; Clearfield 9. 2B – McGary, Sutika; Campman, Bookhamer 2. Sac – Timchak 2. SF – Danver 2. SB – Campman.
Pitching
Curwensville – McGary 6 IP, 13 H, 7 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 5 K.
Clearfield – Bookhamer 7 IP, 10 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 3 K.
WP – McGary 1; Bookhamer 1.
W – Bookhamer (1-0). L – McGary (0-1).
Umpires – Joe Shick (plate); Chad Weaver (bases).
