In his first effort on the mound this season, Alex Kortuem (above) only allowed two hits and one unearned run against visiting Martin County West on Tuesday while striking out seven. He threw all five innings.
Meanwhile, the Clipper offense produced seven hits for a 12-1 triumph.
“I probably would have pitched yesterday (against host Mankato Loyola), but the game got postponed,” said the junior. “But I went out today and got it done. The curve ball…that was where it was at.”
Last season Kortuem won two and lost two and recorded one save.
“Alex was one of our best pitchers last year, if not our best pitcher,” said head coach Charlie Haugen. He was just showing it and showing it. We have a lot of trust in him and know what he can do, and he went out there and showed it again today. He threw 30 or 40 more pitches than he needed to, but he stayed resilient, stayed tough,
The Clippers put up a run in the first when Carson Lyons led off with a walk, stole second and third and scored on a Caleb Connor sacrifice fly.
The Mavericks tied the game right after, when, with two outs, they took advantage of an outfield error to poise a runner at second. Kortuem beaned the next hitter before a base hit brought the run home. Another hit batter loaded the bases, the next batter grounded out to shortstop, and the Clippers made the play at home to get out of the jam.
“I trusted the guys behind me,” Kortuem said. “They’ll make the plays. You just have to give it to them.”
“He stayed locked in,” Haugen said. “The biggest thing I tell these pitchers is ‘don’t show it.’ If you are high or if you are low, just keep being up there, being a dog and going after it.’ So it was fun to see him do that.”
With a Brennan Kortuem single, an error and a pair of walks, the Clippers pushed home the winning run in the third before Kyle Connor sent a hard-hit ball into right field for two more RBIs, and the Clippers were suddenly up 4-1.
With a third-strike looking, Alex Kortuem got himself out of another bases-loaded quagmire in the fourth, and the Clippers crossed the plate eight times in the next inning. In the top of the fifth, the first batter grounded out and the second flew out before he struck out the final batter to punctuate the 10-run-rule victory.
“He (Haugen) wanted to take me out after four, but I said ‘let me finish this last inning.’”
“He said ‘give me the ball,’” Haugen said, “and that is something as a coach you just love to hear. And he stepped up and had a great last inning.”
In the bottom of the fourth, leadoff Nathan Seeman reached first on an error. Lyons singled, sending Seeman to third. Brennan Kortuem took a pitch for the team to load the bases before Caleb Connor airmailed hit into center field for two RBIs.
After Miles Tomaszewski grounded into a fielder’s choice that put Brennan Kortuem out at third, Kale Kelley walked to load the bases. Running for Connor, Jackson Shouler got a free pass home when Braeden Smith got hit by a pitch. When Kyle Connor walked, Tomaszewski strolled home. When Alex Kortuem walked, Kelley scored. Batting for Seeman, Aiden Domras singled to score Smith, and with a Lyons line drive to center field, Kiptyn Coon, who was running for Alex Kortuem, and Kyle Connor both crossed the plate.
Lyons and Kyle Connor each had two hits. Brennan Kortuem, Domras and Caleb Connor each had one hits. The Clippers walked seven times and struck out five times. Lyons swiped three bases. Brenan Kortuem stole two bases, and Domras stole one base.
Haugen noted that the Clippers didn’t get off to the best of starts. They committed four errors, two more than the Mavericks and didn’t swing the bat well early on.
“It’s just playing our brand of baseball. We know we have a really good ball club here, and we have set expectations for ourselves. We just knew in a couple of areas we just weren’t quite where we wanted to be. We got our bats figured out and started to dial in on defense, but at the end of the day you have to be dialed in and ready to go from the first pitch”
The Clippers, now 3-0, return to action today (Thursday) when they road trip to Truman to take on GHEC/T/ML. The Jaguars have just one game in: a 6-4 loss to Blue Earth Area.
Elsewhere in the five-team Valley Conference, Loyola beat NRHEG 5-1in non-conference action.
