CLEARFIELD — Lack of hitting caught up with the Clearfield American Legion Post 6 baseball team in the first round of the Central Penn League Playoffs Friday evening.
Nate Gearhart held the Chiefs to three singles in pitching Huntingdon to a 3-0 victory at the Lawrence Township Recreation Park Field.
Clearfield (9-9), which has scored two or fewer runs in six of its losses, had only two runners reach second against the right-hander, who struck out two and walked two.
Brandon Orsich suffered the loss despite allowing only four hits while striking out nine.
Three of those safeties came in the first inning when Huntingdon scored all of its runs.
Bloop singles by Jared Showalter and Jon Wagner and a failed fielder’s choice play had the bases full for Leif Brown, and he drove in two runs with a double to deep left field.
Gearhart followed with a sacrifice fly for the third run, which was unearned because of a Clearfield misplay on a pickoff attempt.
Clearfield will try to stave off elimination in a 2 p.m. game Sunday against the loser of Saturday’s semifinal match-up between regular season runner-up Mifflin County and Bellefonte, which upended State College 5-2 in Friday’s other opener.
If Bellefonte loses, the Chiefs will have another home game, this time at the Bison Sports Complex. A Mifflin County loss means a trip to Lewistown for manager Sid Lansberry’s team.
Regular season champion Beech Creek will host Huntingdon in the other winner’s bracket semifinal Saturday.
HUNTINGDON — 3
Hunter Price 1b 3000, Jared Showalter lf 3110, Jon Wagner ss 3110, Logan Fischer rf 3100, Leif Brown c 3022, Nate Gearhart p 2001, Drew Weglarz 3b 3000, Brian McLaughlin 2b 3000, Nick Zanic cf 3000. TOTALS: 26 3 4 3.
CLEARFIELD — 0
Josh Sorbera c 3000, Will Myers ss 3010, Marcus Luzier 3b 3000, Brandon Orsich p 3000, Jon Trimpey cf 3010, Ty Bender lf 1000, Reese Wilson lf 1000, Justin Fedder 2b 2000, Zane Morgan 2b 1000, Jake Sorbera rf 2000, Thayne Morgan rf 0000, Seth Bumbarger 1b 2010, Tommy Hazel 1b 0000. TOTALS: 24 0 3 0.
Score by Innings
Huntingdon 300 000 0 – 3 4 0
Clearfield 000 000 0 – 0 3 2
E – Myers, Ja. Sorbera. LOB – Huntingdon 3; Clearfield 4. 2B – Brown 2. SF – Gearhart.
Pitching
Huntingdon – Gearhart 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K.
Clearfield – Orsich 7 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 9 K.
W – Gearhart. L – Orsich (5-3).