LEWISTOWN – Down 3-0 going to the top of the third inning, the Clearfield American Legion baseball team exploded for seven runs and went on to defeat Mifflin County 10-6 in a Central Penn League Playoffs elimination game Friday evening.
Manager Sid Lansberry’s Chiefs, who qualified as the fourth place team in the West Division, will try to extend their season again Saturday afternoon with a trip to Bellefonte. The first pitch at Governors Park will be at two o’clock.
The East Division runner-up Bandits lost 11-2 to West Division champion DuBois in a winner’s bracket semifinal Friday.
Clearfield nipped Bellefonte 7-6 with four runs in the bottom of the ninth inning during the regular season.
The first five batters in the Post 6 lineup did most of the damage against Mifflin County, accounting for 10 of the 13 hits and six runs batted in.
Pacing the Chiefs were Jon Janocko with a double and two singles and Andrew Redden with a double and a single good for three RBIs.
Winning pitcher Kyler Kephart and Ronny Ogden each had a pair of singles and one RBI.
Kephart went the distance on the mound for his third victory, allowing eight hits but only two earned runs. He struck out three and walked five.
Clearfield had six hits in the third-inning outburst, the key ones a two-run double by Redden and a two-run single by Wyatt Westen. Janocko and Tanner Ogden added run-scoring singles.
Redden singled to drive in Derek Danver, who had walked, and later scored on Ronny Ogden’s groundout to increase the lead to 9-3 in the fourth inning.
Cole Kephart was hit by a pitch and scored on older brother Kyler’s groundout in the seventh.
Cy Treaster and Joey Knepp had a single and a double apiece for Mifflin County (8-17).
At 12-10, Clearfield has clinched a winning record in its first season in the CPL since the mid-1970s.
In other games, East Division champ Beech Creek edged West Division runner-up Philipsburg 4-2 in a winner’s bracket semifinal and State College, which finished third in the West, eliminated Clarence 13-1.
CLEARFIELD — 10
Kyler Kephart p 5-1-2-1, Derek Danver ss 4-1-1-0, Andrew Redden c 5-2-2-3, Jon Janocko 1b-3b 4-1-3-1, Ronny Ogden rf 4-1-2-1, Zach Timchak pr 0-0-0-0, Curtis Collins lf 0-0-0-0, Coleman Kubala 3b 3-1-0-0, Thomas Summers 1b 0-0-0-0, Cole Kephart 2b 2-1-1-0, Tanner Ogden cf 3-1-1-1, Wyatt Westen rf 2-1-1-2. TOTALS: 32-10-13-9.
MIFFLIN COUNTY — 6
Cy Treaster c 4-2-2-0, Joey Knepp lf-cf 3-0-2-1, Evan Pupo p-ss 3-1-1-1, Isaac Strohecker 2b-3b 2-0-0-0, Heath Hidlay ss-p 4-0-0-0, Hayden Snook 1b 4-0-1-0, Doug Harshbarger rf-lf 4-0-0-0, Jordan Wolfkill 3b 0-1-0-0, Seth Bowersox 2b 2-2-1-0, Aaron Michaels cf-rf 3-1-1-0. TOTALS: 29-6-8-2.
Score by Innings
Clearfield 007 200 1 – 10 13 3
Mifflin County 120 102 0 – 6 8 3
Errors – Redden, Kubala, T. Ogden; Knepp, Strohecker, Bowersox. DP – Mifflin County 1 (Wolfkill and Snook). LOB – Clearfield 8; Mifflin County 7. 2B – Redden, Janocko; Treaster, Knepp, Pupo. Sac – T. Ogden, Westen. SB – C. Kephart.
Pitching
Clearfield – K. Kephart 7 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 2 ER, 5 BB, 3 K.
Mifflin County – Pupo 3 IP,8 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 1 K; Hidlay 4 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K.
HB – Hidlay 2 (C. Kephart 2). WP – K. Kephart 1.
W – K. Kephart (3-3). L – Pupo.