HYDE – The Clearfield Area High School Baseball squad tasted victory for the first time this season as they defeated visiting Penns Valley Friday afternoon, 3-1.
Making the most of his very first varsity start, senior pitcher Kyler Kephart scattered four hits as he went the distance in picking up the big win for the young Bisons.
Clearfield head coach Sid Lansberry was impressed with Kephart’s pitching performance, “It was Kyler’s (Kephart) very first varsity start and he comes out and throws a complete game win. I was especially pleased that he went all seven innings and threw just 84 pitches while walking just one batter. And he threw a lot of first pitch strikes which got him ahead of the hitters, which is a big key.”
The Bisons picked up the game’s first run in the bottom half of the second inning on a one out walk to Cole Kephart, who then went all the way to third base on a single by Kyler Kephart to right field.
Tanner Ogden drove home Cole Kephart with a deep sacrifice fly to left field as Clearfield went ahead after three innings 1-0.
The Bisons would add two more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning that proved to be the winning tallies.
Tanner Ogden reached base on an error, then moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Coleman Kubala.
With one out Ronny Ogden drew a base on balls giving Clearfield runners on first and second. Ogden promptly moved up a base on single to left field by first baseman Jon Janocko, loading the bases.
Freshman Thomas Summers, the designated hitter, then delivered the biggest hit of his young career by singling to left field, which drove home Ogden and pinch runner Michael Wood giving the Bisons a 3-0 margin after six innings were complete.
The Rams would add one run of their own in the top half of the seventh inning but it wasn’t enough as Clearfield pushed it’s record 1-2 on the young season.
Janocko had two singles for Clearfield while Cody Luse had two hits, also singles, for the Rams.
Lansberry then talked about the game and the win, “This was a really good ballgame. Both teams played good fundamental baseball and I was very pleased that we played good defense. It is a big win since we are a very young team and it hopefully will be a confidence builder.”
The Bisons are on the road on Monday when they travel to Punxsutawney to play the Chucks. Game time is set for 4:15 pm.
PENNS VALLEY – 1
Nigel Grandy cf 2000, Cody Luse p/rf 3020, Sam Snyder dh 3110, Luke Weaver c 0000, Dakota Butler 3b 3010, Chris Belko ss 3001, Logan Courson rf 2000, Logan Johnson p 1000, Cameron Tobias 1b 2000, Max Bair lf 2000, Caleb Luse 2b 2000, TOTALS – 23 1 4 1.
CLEARFIELD – 3
Cole Kephart ss 1110, Kyler Kephart p 3010, Tanner Ogden cf 3101, Coleman Kubala 3b 2000, Ronny Ogden lf 2010, Michael Wood pr 0100, Jon Janocko 1b 3020, Thomas Summers dh 2012, Jonas Kochan c 0000, Wyatt Westen 2b 3010, Matt Josephson rf 2000, Kurtis Krise ph 1000, TOTALS – 22 3 7 3.
SCORE BY INNINGS
PENNS VALLEY 000 000 1 1 4 1
CLEARFIELD 001 002 x 3 7 1
ERRORS – Belko, Westen. LOB – Penns Valley 3 Clearfield 7. DP- Penns Valley. SB – Cody Luse 2. SAC – T. Ogden, Kubala.
PITCHING
PENNS VALLEY
Cody Luse 5 1/3 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 3 K 1 Balk
Johnson 2/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K
CLEARFIELD
K. Kyler 7 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K
WP – K. Kephart (1-1) LP – C. Luse
Bison Baseball Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 3/23 | @ Norfolk Collegiate HS | 9 – 10 | 0 – 1 |
| 3/27 | BELLEFONTE | 13 – 15 | 0 – 2 |
| 3/30 | PENNS VALLEY | 3 – 1 | 1 – 3 |
| 4/02 | @ Punxsutawney |
