HYDE – Chad Zurat pitched a four-hitter and drove in three runs with a home run and a single to lead Clearfield past Reynoldsville 8-4 in Jefferson County Legion League action at the Bison Sports Complex Thursday evening.
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On the mound, Zurat was masterful other than the second inning, when the visitors collected all of their hits and took advantage of two errors to grab a 4-0 lead.
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The right-hander, making his first start of the JCL season, faced only 17 batters over the final five frames, retiring the last eight and 12 of the last 13.
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He struck out eight and walked three for Clearfield’s fourth win in five games.
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At the plate, Zurat got the Chiefs back into it in the bottom of the second by belting a home over the left field fence with Kyler Kephart aboard via a line single to right center and drilled a single to center for the final run after Justin Hoffman hammered a double to deep left center with one out in the fifth.
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Manager Sid Lansberry’s club took the upper hand in the fourth inning with a five-run outburst against Houston Fairman, who inherited the 4-2 lead from starter Garrett LaBorde.
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With one out, Hoffman singled over short, Zurat walked and Tyler Jacobson rifled a long single to left center for an RBI. After Shane Harper walked to load the bases, the Chiefs got a break when Jarrett Fulmer’s hard grounder was muffed, Zurat scoring the tying run.
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Kyle Timchak picked up the game-winning RBI with a force-out before Corey Bookhamer whacked a double to deep right center for two insurance runs.
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Fulmer joined Zurat and Hoffman in the two-hit column.
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Brett Sutika’s two-run single was the big hit for Reynoldsville after a throwing error on a possible inning-ending double play grounder and an infield single by Shawn LaBorde had put the visitors in front 2-0.
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After that, Zurat dominated, striking out the side in the sixth.
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He had to work from the stretch only after walking Paul Butler in the fourth and hitting Joe Brennen in the fifth.
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The Chiefs will begin inter-league play Sunday against two Indiana County League teams.
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They’ll test the Indiana Legion at 2 p.m. at Marion Center and Creps United at 5:30 p.m. at Punxsutawney’s Kuntz Memorial Field.
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Jefferson County League Standings – DuBois 3-0, Punxsutawney 3-0, Clearfield 3-1, Brookville 1-4, Reynoldsville 1-6.
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REYNOLDSVILLE — 4
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Garrett LaBorde p-rf-cf 1000, Derek Dixon dh 3000, Brett Sutika ss 4012, Houston Fairman cf-p 3010, Joe Brennen 1b 2000, Brett Zimmerman c 3110, Ryan Walker 2b 2100, Jared Baummer 2b 0000, Max Hrinya 3b 2000, Travis Hale ph-3b 1000, Paul Butler lf 2100, Shawn LaBorde rf-cf 2111, Nick Esposito ph 1000, Mike Hutchins rf 0000. TOTALS: 26 4 4 3.
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CLEARFIELD — 8
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Jarrett Fulmer 2b 4021, Kyle Timchak lf-cf 4101, Corey Bookhamer c 3012, Derek Danver ss 4000, Kyler Kephart 1b 3110, Steve Miller 1b 0000, Justin Hoffman rf 3220, Chad Zurat p 2223, Tyler Jacobson 3b 2111, Luke Peterson ph-3b 0000, Shane Harper cf 1100, Ronny Ogden ph-lf 1000. TOTALS: 27 8 9 8.
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Score by Innings
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Reynoldsville  040 000 0 – 4 4 1
Clearfield        020 510 x – 8 9 2
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Errors – Walker; Fulmer, Kephart. PB – Zimmerman 1. DP – Reynoldsville 1 (Sutika, Walker and Brennen). LOB – Reynoldsville 5; Clearfield 5. 2B – Bookhamer, Hoffman. HR – Zurat (1). SB – Fairman 2; S. LaBorde.
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Pitching
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Reynoldsville – G. LaBorde 3 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K; Fairman 3 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 5 K.
Clearfield – Zurat 7 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 8 K.
HB – Zurat 1 (Brennen). WP – G. LaBorde.
W – Zurat (1-0). L – Fairman.
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Umpires – Rob Morgan (plate); Kenny Knepp (bases).