PUNXSUTAWNEY — The Clearfield Area High School baseball team couldn’t make an early lead stand up once again Tuesday in an 8-3 non-league loss to District 9 Class AAA rival Punxsutawney at Kuntz Field.
The Bison have wound up on the short end of four consecutive games in which they were in front at some point.
Lance Pennington and Hunter Hickok combined for six innings of shutout relief pitching for the Chucks, who fell behind 3-0 because of two errors after the Bison loaded the bases against starter Matt Burkett in the second frame.
Punxsy (2-3) got those back, and three more, off Jon Janocko in the bottom of the second.
Doubles by Jamie Bush and Mike Klingensmith and one-out singles by Dakotah Byers and Chris Falgout knotted the score. A two-out error gave the Chucks what proved to be the winning run, and Bush capped the rally with his second hit for two more unearned runs.
Clearfield threatened again in the third when Thomas Summers doubled and Janocko and Spencer Herrington walked, but Pennington bore down to strand them by striking out the next three batters.
He went on to finish with seven strikeouts in four innings to earn the win, walking two and giving up two hits.
Hickok allowed one hit and one walk and also hit a batter in his two innings on the mound.
Klingensmith doubled home Punxsy’s final two runs, both unearned, in the fourth as he and Bush accounted for four hits and five RBIs.
Summers and Herrington had two hits apiece for the Bison, 1-4 for their home opener against Penns Valley Thursday.
Wyatt Westen and Devin Jones held the Chucks to one hit and no runs over the last 2-1/3 frames.
CLEARFIELD — 3
Cole Kephart 3b-ss 3000, Curtis Collins lf 4000, Thomas Summers 1b-rf 4020, Jon Janocko p-1b 3000, Spencer Herrington 2b 3120, Zach Timchak rf 0000, Josh Kennedy dh-3b 3110, Wyatt Westen ss-p-cf 2100, Sawyer Rowles cf 2000, Devin Jones p 0000, Jonas Kochan c 1000, Erik Sellers ph 1000, Josh Sorbera c 1000. TOTALS: 27 3 5 0.
PUNXSUTAWNEY — 8
Matt Burkett p 0000, Lance Pennington p 0000, Hunter Hickok p 0000, Clayton Dale dh 4000, Ryan Sloniger c 4000, Ty Zimmerman ss 4110, Jamie Bush 1b 3222, Mike Blose pr 0000, Mike Klingensmith 2b 4123, Garrett Zimmerman lf 4010, Cory Geer 3b 0000, Dakotah Byers 3b 2111, Chris Falgout cf 3011, Taylor Phillips rf 1100. TOTALS: 27 8 8 7.
Score by Innings
Clearfield 030 000 0 – 3 5 3
Punxsutawney 060 200 x- 8 8 3
E – Kephart 2, Kennedy; T. Zimmerman, Geer 2. PB – Kochan 2. DP – Clearfield 1 (Janocko unassisted); Punxsutawney 1 (Bush and T. Zimmerman). LOB – Clearfield 9; Punxsutawney 6. 2B – Summers; Bush, Klingensmith. SB – Sellers; T. Zimmerman, Byers.
Pitching
Clearfield – Janocko 3-2/3 IP, 7 H, 8 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 1 K; Westen 1-1/3 IP 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K; Jones 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K.
Punxsutawney – Burkett 1+ IP (faced 3 batters in 2nd), 3 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K; Pennington 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K; Hickok 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K.
HB – Janocko 1 (Phillips); Hickok 1 (Rowles).
W – Pennington. L – Janocko (0-1).
Bison Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 3/25 | @ Central | ppd. | 0 – 0 |
| 3/28 | @ Huntingdon | ppd. | 0 – 0 |
| 3/30 | @ Huntingdon | 18 – 7 | 1 – 0 |
| 4/01 | @ Central | ppd. | 1 – 0 |
| 4/03 | @ Bald Eagle Area | ppd. | 1 – 0 |
| 4/04 | @ Bald Eagle Aea | 3 – 8 | 1 – 1 |
| 4/05 | @ Bellefonte | 6 – 15 | 1 – 2 |
| 4/08 | @ Tyrone | 4 – 5 | 1 – 3 |
| 4/10 | @ Punxsutawney | 3 – 8 | 1 – 4 |
| 4/11 | PENNS VALLEY | ||
| 4/12 | @ Central | ||
| 4/15 | DUBOIS | ||
| 4/16 | PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA | ||
| 4/19 | CENTRAL | ||
| 4/22 | HUNTINGDON | ||
| 4/25 | BALD EAGLE AREA | ||
| 4/29 | @ Central Mountain | ||
| 4/30 | BELLEFONTE | ||
| 5/03 | TYRONE | ||
| 5/06 | BROOKVILLE | ||
| 5/07 | @ Penns Valley | ||
| 5/10 | @ Philipsburg-Osceola | ||
| 5/13 | @ Bradford | ||
| 5/17 | PUNXSUTAWNEY |