HYDE – Chad Zurat pitched a four-hitter and drove in three runs with a home run and a single to lead Clearfield past Reynoldsville 8-4 in Jefferson County Legion League action at the Bison Sports Complex Thursday evening.
On the mound, Zurat was masterful other than the second inning, when the visitors collected all of their hits and took advantage of two errors to grab a 4-0 lead.
The right-hander, making his first start of the JCL season, faced only 17 batters over the final five frames, retiring the last eight and 12 of the last 13.
He struck out eight and walked three for Clearfield’s fourth win in five games.
At the plate, Zurat got the Chiefs back into it in the bottom of the second by belting a home over the left field fence with Kyler Kephart aboard via a line single to right center and drilled a single to center for the final run after Justin Hoffman hammered a double to deep left center with one out in the fifth.
Manager Sid Lansberry’s club took the upper hand in the fourth inning with a five-run outburst against Houston Fairman, who inherited the 4-2 lead from starter Garrett LaBorde.
With one out, Hoffman singled over short, Zurat walked and Tyler Jacobson rifled a long single to left center for an RBI. After Shane Harper walked to load the bases, the Chiefs got a break when Jarrett Fulmer’s hard grounder was muffed, Zurat scoring the tying run.
Kyle Timchak picked up the game-winning RBI with a force-out before Corey Bookhamer whacked a double to deep right center for two insurance runs.
Fulmer joined Zurat and Hoffman in the two-hit column.
Brett Sutika’s two-run single was the big hit for Reynoldsville after a throwing error on a possible inning-ending double play grounder and an infield single by Shawn LaBorde had put the visitors in front 2-0.
After that, Zurat dominated, striking out the side in the sixth.
He had to work from the stretch only after walking Paul Butler in the fourth and hitting Joe Brennen in the fifth.
The Chiefs will begin inter-league play Sunday against two Indiana County League teams.
They’ll test the Indiana Legion at 2 p.m. at Marion Center and Creps United at 5:30 p.m. at Punxsutawney’s Kuntz Memorial Field.
Jefferson County League Standings – DuBois 3-0, Punxsutawney 3-0, Clearfield 3-1, Brookville 1-4, Reynoldsville 1-6.
REYNOLDSVILLE — 4
Garrett LaBorde p-rf-cf 1000, Derek Dixon dh 3000, Brett Sutika ss 4012, Houston Fairman cf-p 3010, Joe Brennen 1b 2000, Brett Zimmerman c 3110, Ryan Walker 2b 2100, Jared Baummer 2b 0000, Max Hrinya 3b 2000, Travis Hale ph-3b 1000, Paul Butler lf 2100, Shawn LaBorde rf-cf 2111, Nick Esposito ph 1000, Mike Hutchins rf 0000. TOTALS: 26 4 4 3.
CLEARFIELD — 8
Jarrett Fulmer 2b 4021, Kyle Timchak lf-cf 4101, Corey Bookhamer c 3012, Derek Danver ss 4000, Kyler Kephart 1b 3110, Steve Miller 1b 0000, Justin Hoffman rf 3220, Chad Zurat p 2223, Tyler Jacobson 3b 2111, Luke Peterson ph-3b 0000, Shane Harper cf 1100, Ronny Ogden ph-lf 1000. TOTALS: 27 8 9 8.
Score by Innings
Reynoldsville 040 000 0 – 4 4 1
Clearfield 020 510 x – 8 9 2
Errors – Walker; Fulmer, Kephart. PB – Zimmerman 1. DP – Reynoldsville 1 (Sutika, Walker and Brennen). LOB – Reynoldsville 5; Clearfield 5. 2B – Bookhamer, Hoffman. HR – Zurat (1). SB – Fairman 2; S. LaBorde.
Pitching
Reynoldsville – G. LaBorde 3 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K; Fairman 3 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 5 K.
Clearfield – Zurat 7 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 8 K.
HB – Zurat 1 (Brennen). WP – G. LaBorde.
W – Zurat (1-0). L – Fairman.
Umpires – Rob Morgan (plate); Kenny Knepp (bases).
