CLEARFIELD – The Clearfield American Legion Post 6 baseball team’s playoff hopes took a hit Monday evening as Philipsburg rolled to a 12-0 Mercy Rule win in Central Penn League West Division action at the Lawrence Township Recreation Park Field.
Aaron Lidgett scattered five hits and struck out six while Shane Hoover and Derek Greene drove in three runs apiece to lead the Phils, who leapfrogged the Chiefs into a tie for second place with DuBois at 6-5.
Clearfield (10-8) fell to fourth at 7-6 and might need one win in its last two games to continue its season.
The Chiefs close at home against DuBois Tuesday and Altoona next Monday.
They’ll have to perform much better in all areas than they did in their second loss to the Phils to nail down a playoff berth without needing some help.
Five miscues prolonged the first three innings and cost the Chiefs five unearned runs. And they couldn’t deliver a clutch hit, stranding eight runners, five of them in scoring position.
Meanwhile, Philipsburg (9-6) was backing Lidgett’s no-walk, shutout pitching with a 13-hit attack that produced runs in four of the five innings.
After a Clearfield error on a potential double play kept the first inning alive, Lidgett doubled to deep center to plate Cody Lee and then scored on another misplay.
Parker Watson drilled a two-run double to right center and trotted home on Greene’s bases-loaded, two-out single through the middle in the second frame.
Devin Jones replaced Kyler Kephart on the hill for Clearfield in the third inning, and the Phils immediately added four runs to their lead to make it 9-0. Jake Belinda, Hoover and Greene cracked RBI hits.
Two innings later, Hoover capped his three-hit game with a run-scoring double into the left field corner, Lidgett scored his third run on Green’s groundout and Hoover walked home on a balk.
Belinda, Watson, Lidgett and Greene each had a pair of hits.
For the Chiefs, Ronny Ogden singled twice and Cole Kephart doubled.
PHILIPSBURG — 12
Jake Belinda ss 4-2-2-1, Parker Watson cf 3-2-2-2, Cody Lee lf 4-2-0-0, Aaron Lidgett p 2-3-2-0, Shane Hoover 3b 4-1-3-3, Derek Greene c 4-0-2-3, Billy Edminson rf 2-0-0-0, Josh Dotts ph-rf 2-0-0-0, Taylor Golemboski 1b 3-1-1-0, Cody Ammerman 1b 0-0-0-0, Kyle Johns 2b 3-1-1-0, Curtis Baugh 2b 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 31-12-13-9.
CLEARFIELD — 0
Kyler Kephart p-2b-1b 3-0-0-0, Derek Danver ss 2-0-1-0, Jon Janocko 1b-3b 3-0-1-0, Tanner Ogden cf 3-0-0-0, Andrew Redden rf 1-0-0-0, Devin Jones p 1-0-0-0, Thomas Summers ph 1-0-0-0, Ronny Ogden 2-0-2-0, Cole Kephart 2b-rf-2b, Wyatt Westen 3b-rf 2-0-0-0, Curtis Collins lf 1-0-0-0, Josh Kennedy ph 1-0-0-0. TOTALS: 22-0-5-0.
Score by Innings
Philipsburg 234 03 – 12 13 2
Clearfield 000 00 – 0 5 5
Errors – Hoover, Ammerman; Janocko, T. Ogden, C. Kephart, Westen 2. PB – Greene 1. LOB – Philipsburg 7; Clearfield 8. 2B – Belinda, Watson, Hoover; C. Kephart.
Pitching
Philipsburg – Lidgett 5 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 K.
Clearfield – K. Kephart 2 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 1 K; Jones 3 IP, 7 H, 7 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 2 K.
HB – Lidgett 1 (Danver). WP – K. Kephart 1. Balk – Jones 1.
W – Lidgett. L – K. Kephart (2-3).
Umpires – Frank Keenan (plate) and Rob Murphy (bases).