HYDE — Offensive woes continued for the Clearfield American Legion Post 6 baseball team at the Bison Sports Complex Wednesday evening as the Chiefs absorbed their second 3-0 shutout of the season at the hands of Beech Creek hurlers.
Kenny Heverly, who pitched two hitless innings for a save in the Central Penn League opener for both teams on May 28, got the start and worked six frames to earn the victory, striking out eight and walking three.
Bryce Hanley mopped up with a 1-2-3 seventh for the save.
Singles by Curtis Collins, Josh Kennedy and Thomas Summers were the only hits for the Chiefs, now 0-8 in the CPL and 0-8-1 0verall.
Collins was the lone Clearfield runner to touch second base, moving up on a wild pitch by Heverly after rifling his hit to right center in the first inning.
Mirroring the prior meeting, Beech Creek (4-2 CPL) broke on top in its first at-bat when Chuck Probst led off with a triple to right center and scored on Kyle McGregor’s soft line single to left and then made it 2-0 against starter and loser Ronny Ogden in the third inning.
Good defense by the Chiefs prevented the Crickets from breaking the game wide open in that frame.
Clayton Butler drilled a single to left but was picked off by catcher Josh Sorbera. Then, Trapper Kunes sliced a double down the left field line and raced home on Hanley’s sharp single through the middle. Drew Nyman followed with a single to right center, but Zach Timchak’s perfect one-hopper cut down Hanley at third.
Summers went to the mound in the fifth and found himself in a first-and-third situation after McGregor’s second hit, a wild pitch and a miscue on Butler’s grounder. Summers picked off Butler but McGregor scored during the rundown.
Summers faced more trouble following another error, a walk and stolen bases by Kunes and Evan McGill. First baseman Kyler Kephart, playing in with runners at second and third, bailed him out by fielding Hanley’s grounder and throwing out Kunes at the plate.
The Crickets’ Nyman was the victim of another Clearfield defensive gem when he tried to score on a pop-up behind shortstop in the second inning. Cole Kephart’s strong throw arrived in Sorbera’s glove in plenty of time to complete a double play.
Ogden gave up six hits, Summers allowed one hit and struck out two in two innings and Wyatt Westen fanned two of the three batters he faced in the seventh.
Clearfield will play four games in the Pennsylvania Open Wood Bat Tournament hosted by the Bellefonte Bandits this weekend.
On Friday, the Chiefs will take on Hatfield at 12:30 p.m. at the Bellefonte Area High School Field and Souderton at 5:30 at the Shaner Upper Field.
They’ll return Saturday to meet Corning (N.Y.) Red at 10 a.m. at the Shaner Upper Field and Mt. Airy (Md) at 5:30 p.m. at the Bellefonte Area High School Field.
BEECH CREEK — 3
Chuck Probst cf 2110, Mitch Heverly ph 1000, Cole Hanley 3b 3000, Darrin Masorti 3b 1000, Kyle McGregor ss 3121, Wes Smeal ph 1000, Kenny Heverly p 0000, Clayton Butler dh-1b 3010, Trapper Kunes 2b 3110, Ethan McGill c 1000, Bryce Hanley 1b-p 3011, Drew Nyman lf 3010, Phil Holter rf 1000, Evan Kinley rf 1000. TOTALS: 26 3 7 2.
CLEARFIELD — 0
Kyler Kephart 2b-1b-2b 2000, Curtis Collins lf-cf 3010, Thomas Summers 1b-p 3010, Kaleb Taylor 1b 0000, Cole Kephart ss 2000, Devin Jones lf 1000, Josh Kennedy 3b 2010, Erik Sellers 3b 1000, Wyatt Westen cf-ss-p 3000, Ronny Ogden p 0000, Brandon Orsich 2b-ss 2000, Josh Sorbera c 2000, Zach Timchak rf 2000. TOTALS: 23 0 3 0.
Score by Innings
Beech Creek 101 010 0 – 3 7 0
Clearfield 000 000 0 – 0 3 3
E – Kennedy, Sellers, Orsich. DP – Clearfield 1 (C. Kephart and Sorbera). LOB – Beech Creek 5; Clearfield 8. 2B – Kunes. 3B – Probst. SB – McGregor, Kunes 2, McGill.
Pitching
Beech Creek – K. Heverly 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 8 K; B. Hanley 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K.
Clearfield – Ogden 4 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 1 K; Summers 2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K; Westen 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K.
HB – Ogden 1 (Probst). WP – K. Heverly 1; Ogden 1, Summers 1. PO – McGill 1 (Taylor); Summers 1 (Butler); Sorbera 1 (Butler).
W – K. Heverly. L – Ogden (0-3). Save – B. Hanley.
Umpires – Mike Skraba (plate) and Scott Viehdorfer (bases).