DUBOIS – Sparked by three-run homers from Garrett Peterson and Jordan LaBue in the first inning, DuBois rocketed to a 17-1 lead after two frames and capped its Jefferson County Legion League regular season title with an 18-2 Mercy Rule win over Clearfield at Showers Field Wednesday evening.
The second consecutive one-sided loss to the champs set the third-place Chiefs’ record at 11-8 for the start of the JCL Playoffs Friday.
Manager Sid Lansberry’s club will travel to Punxsutawney, which finished second at 15-5, while DuBois (15-1) will host fourth place Brookville (4-16) in the openers.
Winners and losers will be paired for Saturday action on the home fields of the higher seeded team, with the loser’s bracket final on Monday and the championship on the line Wednesday and, if necessary, Thursday.
All games will begin at 5:30 p.m. and are nine-innings unless shortened by the JCL’s 12-run Mercy Rule.
Clearfield must make a quick turnaround after being held to four hits by three DuBois hurlers.
Corey Bookhamer singled and scored on Andrew Redden’s double off LaBue, who struck out three and walked one in three innings to earn the win.
Mario Gregorio came out from behind the plate to work one inning, the Chiefs picking up their other run on an error and Ronny Ogden’s single and Tyler Jacobson’s sacrifice fly.
Braden Bish closed it out with one scoreless inning.
Saving their frontline pitching for the weekend, the Chiefs opted to go with outfielders Justin Hoffman and Shane Harper on the mound in the first two innings, and DuBois made them pay with 13 of their 16 hits, sending 14 batters to the plate in each frame.
Bish singled twice in the first and added another hit in the second, while Derek Clark singled twice in the second on his way to a 4-for-4 game.
Peterson and LaBue had two hits and four RBIs apiece.
Ogden and Jacobson also pitched in relief for Clearfield, 16-11 overall.
CLEARFIELD — 2
Derek Danver ss 3000, Justin Hoffman p-cf-rf 3000, Corey Bookhamer rf-lf 3120, Andrew Redden c 2111, Ronny Ogden lf-p 0000, Steve Miller 3b 1000, Chad Zurat dh 2010, Tyler Jacobson 3b-p 1001, Kyler Kephart 1b 1000, Shane Harper cf-p-cf 2000, Luke Peterson 2b 1000. TOTALS: 19 2 4 2.
DUBOIS — 17
Brandon Palumbo ss 1210, Nate Liddle ph-ss 2110, Dante DeSantis cf 2211, Dom Kriner ph-cf 2010, Garrett Peterson 1b 3214, Adam Young 1b 1011, Braden Bish-p 3b 3232, John Georgino ph 1000, Mario Gregorio c-p-3b 3000, Nate Sabados cf 0100, Derek Clark 2b-rf 4241, Jordan LaBue p-3b 3224, Seam Sleigh rf-lf 3002, Tyler Miles lf-c 2211. TOTALS: 30 18 16 16.
Score by Innings
Clearfield 1 0 0 10 – 2 4 4
DuBois (9)(8)1 0x – 18 16 2
DP – DuBois 1 (Clark and Peterson). LOB – Clearfield 9; DuBois 6. 2B – Redden; Kriner, Young, Bish, LaBue. HR – Peterson, LaBue. SF – Jacobson.
Pitching
Clearfield – Hoffman 1+ IP (faced 2 batters in 2nd), 8 H, 11 R, 8 ER, 2 BB, 1 K; Harper 2/3 IP, 3 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 4 BB, 0 K; Ogden 1-1/3 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 K; Jacobson 1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K.
DuBois – LaBue 3 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K; Gregorio 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K; Bish 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K.
HB – Harper 1 (Sleigh); Bish 1 (Redden).
W – LaBue. L – Hoffman (1).
