Eighth seeded Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s came to town on Tuesday and upset the second-rated Clipper boys 8-2
As seventh seeded Sleepy Eye upset Springfield, the two seed, the Clippers will have to travel to Springfield tonight (Thursday) and come up with an upset themselves if they want to keep their season alive.
The Clippers and the Knights each had six hits, but it didn’t seem that way. The Clippers, who trailed 2-0 in the second before giving up four runs in the fourth, committed three errors and allowed two unearned runs.
“You just have to be able to bounce back,” said head coach Charlie Haugen. “Mistakes are going to happen in baseball. It’s how you respond. We left some on the table today, but the beauty of this whole thing is we get to come back on Thursday and play more baseball.”
The Knights put the ball in play in the first inning but went down one-two-three. The Clippers were also retired similarly but had a strikeout in the mix.
But the Knights got on the board in the second inning on an infield error, a single, a sacrifice fly that put the runner on third, and, with two outs, a balk. They scored another run in the third when the leadoff batter walked, stole second, advanced to third on a ground out and scored on a wild pitch.
With a walk and two singles to load the bases in the fourth, the Knights brought one run home on another walk, another on a wild pitch and two more on a single for a 6-0 advantage.
The Clippers put up their first run in the bottom of the fourth. It came after Caleb Connor, Miles Tomaszewski and Braeden Smith hit back-to-back-to-back singles with Smith’s a hard-hit ball to the shortstop that scored Connor from second.
With a walk, a two-out RBI double followed by infield error on a pop fly for another run, the Knights took an 8-1 lead halfway through the sixth inning.
The Clippers’ other run came in the bottom of that when Brennan Kortuem led off with a walk, Connor and Tomaszewski hit singles, and Kortuem scored on a balk.
Tomaszewski pitched the first four innings. He gave up four hits and four walks for five earned runs while striking out four and leaving three on base. Alex Kortuem took over from there. He gave up two hits and one earned run while walking three, striking out three and hitting one batter.
Tomaszewski was three for three at the plate. All his hits were singles. Connor hit a pair of singles. Smith had a single for the Clippers’ only RBI. The Clippers struck out seven times and walked just once.
“We take this, we learn from it, and we move on,” Haugen said.
In other section games, top ranked New Ulm Cathedral beat Mankato Loyola/Imanuel Lutheran 10-2 while Madelia topped MVL 5-1. The Blackhawks and the Crusaders will face off in an elimination game at MVL.
Above: Kale Kelley readies to catch check throw to first.
