With just one win this season, Mountain Lake Area/Comfrey met the varsity Clippers on the artificial turf of the GAC baseball field on Saturday afternoon.
But the Wolverines were better than their record showed. GHEC/Truman/ML, the only Valley Conference team that beat the Clippers, only edged them 6-5 the night before.
So, it wasn’t a surprise they were no pushover. With five hits, just one less than the Clippers, they had the tying run on deck in the seventh. But in his first start and second appearance on the mound this season, Caleb Connor (above), backed by an errorless Clipper defense, held for a 5-2 victory.
For head coach Charlie Haugen, a dub was never in doubt.
“I felt good about it. I was totally confident in the guys the whole time. When we pitched as good as we pitched today, and as clean as we were in the field, I was not to worried about it. I trust our bats will come around when we need them, and we had that today.”
The Clippers flipped on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first when Brennan Kortuem cracked a double, advanced to third on a Connor line out to center field and scored on a passed ball.
They scored again in the third when Nathan Seeman led off with a walk and scored from first when the left fielder couldn’t draw a bead on a Kortuem fly.
On a single, a stolen base, a sacrifice bunt and a passed ball, the Wolverines posted a run in the fourth.
The Clippers put up two more runs in the fifth. Carson Lyons, Kortuem and Connor hit back-to-back-to-back infield singles. Lyons scored when Miles Tomaszewski hit into a fielder’s choice, and Kortuem crossed the plate on a Braeden Smith single for a 4-1 Clipper advantage.
In the sixth, Seeman singled and made it to second on the play when the putout attempt went awry. Seeman advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a botched pickoff attempt by the pitcher for a 5-1 lead.
The Wolverines scored a run in the seventh on a single, a passed ball and another single before the game ended on a line out, a pop out and a ground out.
Connor gave up one earned run, five hits and no walks while striking out six and leaving two on base.
Kortuem had a single and a double. Seeman, Connor, Smith and Lyons all had singles. Smith and Tomaszewski each had an RBI. They struck out six times, and didn’t walk at all. Five were left on base.
The Clippers were errorless. The Wolverines had four errors and gave up two unearned runs.
“I am proud of the guys for keeping it going heading into the last four or five games of the year,” Haugen said. “It is nice to see us execute and play the game well.”
The Clippers, now 12-3, are back in action tonight (Monday), when non-conference Alden-Conger/Glenville-Emmons comes to town. The Knights will be looking for their second win.
