A 3-1 win over Madelia in Searles on Tuesday sets up a Valley Conference showdown with Mankato Loyola in a double header on their ISG Field home turf on Saturday.
While the Clippers outhit the Blackhawks 7-2, they weren’t stringing hit together, but head Coach Charlie Haugen kept aggressive on the base paths. Steals by Brennan Kortuem and Braeden Smith each set up a run.
“They have really good pitching , but we had timely hits and stole some bases,” Haugen said. “And our pitchers just did awesome.”
The Clippers put up one run in the third when Kortuem reached first on an error, stole second and scored on a Miles Tomaszewski drive to left field for a single. They went up 2-0 after the top of the sixth when Smith walked, stole second and scored on a Carson Lyons line drive to right field for a single.
The Blackhawks, who fell to the Clippers 6-3 back on April 4, got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the sixth when the lead-off batter walked, advanced to second on an infield error during a ground out, moved to third on a single and scored on a wild pitch.
The Clippers added an insurance run in the seventh when Tomaszewski doubled and scored on a Jackson Shouler single.
The Blackhawks lead off the bottom of the seventh with a single, but the Clippers retired the next three batters on a fly out, a strikeout and a line out.
Tomaszewski staffed the hill for the first three innings. He didn’t allow a hit while walking seven, striking out four and beaning one. He walked back to the dugout with seven Blackhawks stuck on base.
“I was just trying to keep pitch count in mind because we have a couple of games on Saturday,” Haugen said. “He looked really good. He got himself out of a couple of tough jams.“
Kortuem took over in the fourth. The senior gave up two hits and one walk and struck out seven.
“I was really confident in Brennan coming in,” Haugen said.
A terror at the plate, Tomaszewski was 3-4 with a single and two doubles. Kyle Connor, Caleb Connor, Shouler and Lyons each had a single. RBIs went to Tomaszewski, Lyons and Shouler. The Clippers walked five times and struck out 10 times. Kale Kelley got hit by a pitch. The Clippers left 11 stranded, one more than Madelia abandoned.
The Crusaders have only played two conference games, beating GHEC/T/ML 4-2 but falling to Madelia 8-4.
In the Valley, Martin County West lost 14-3 to Madelia yesterday (Thursday) and, with a loss to Cleveland and two losses to GHEC/T/ML is 0-4. Madelia is 1-2. GHEC/T/ML’s only loss is to Cleveland and is 2-1.
The first game at ISG Field is at 5:00 p.m.
“Playing under the lights at ISG is always fun” Haugen said.
Above: Braeden Smith, Aiden Domras, Alex Kortuem and Brennan Kortuem after an earlier season win.