With a 6-0 lead in the first round of the playoffs against host St. Patrick on Tuesday, it was all Clippers for the first inning and a half, but from then on, the game skewed toward the luck of the Irish while for the Clippers it was Murphy’s Law as they didn’t score another run and ended their season with a 10-6 defeat.
St. Patrick (New Prague kids) outhit Cleveland 14-6. A dozen of the Clipper outs were on strikeouts.
“It was what we talked about all summer: getting ahead in the count,” said coach Alec Rogers. “We want to take advantage of the first and second pitch. Usually they’re the best, especially at this age where they’re just trying to get up. Walks hurt everybody.
But the Clippers got lackadaisical at the plate, Rogers said.
“We fell back down in the count and didn’t start swinging until we had two strikes, and that bit us. At this age, it’s a learning thing. They’ve done better as the summer has gone on, but it reinstated itself today, and that hurt us.”
Tony Hollerich got hit by the game’s first pitch. Next up, Jake Mueller walked as did Jack Mons and Pierce Lyons before Gauge Bock got beaned too, and the Clippers led 2-0. But they did post some legit runs when Austin Tarkey smashed a three-RBI double for a 5-0 lead.
The Clippers, who had rolled over St. Patrick 15-1 in mid-June, added another run in the second when leadoff batter Brayden Seeman walked and scored on a Hollerich triple.
But it was all St. Patrick from the rest of the way. On a single, a double, a steal of home and a score on a passed ball, they put up a pair of runs in the second. On three singles and a walk, they added three more runs in the third to pull within one, 6-5. On a two-out single, a triple, and another single, they went up 7-6 in the fourth.
The Clippers had a chance to go ahead when Urijah Hoheisel led off the fifth with a walk, Mons singled, and both stole a base for two runners in scoring position. But the next three batters struck out, the last two looking, and the Clippers didn’t get another runner on base until the seventh when, with two outs, Mons, Lyons and Bray Lassiter hit back-to-back-to-back singles, but the game ended on a ground out.
On a single with a stolen base, an RBI single a run on a wild pitch and another run on a passed ball St. Patrick padded their lead with three more runs in the sixth.
Mons batted two singles. Tarkey hit a double for three RBIs. Hollerich and Lyons each had a single and an RBI. Lassiter hit a single. Bock walked in a run. The Clippers walked six times, struck out a dozen times and got hit by a pitch twice. They left nine of their runners on base.
Mons threw the first five innings. He allowed 14 hits and one walk for eight earned runs while striking out six. Bock tossed the sixth. He walked two and beaned one and gave up one earned run. The Clipper defense stranded seven.
Rogers said the Clippers need to continue to work on the basics to maximize their talent when baseball season fires up again.
“The fundamentals don’t stop at the end of the season, and that’s what we’re honing in on: developing outside of the season over the next nine months. This group is going to be a really good baseball squad. I wish they could see it fully compared to what we can see as coaches, but they know how good they can be. They just have to stick with it and focus on the fundamental part of it.”
The U14 Clippers finish their season with a 4-6-1 record.
Above: Shortstop Pierce Lyons sets up to field a line drive as a St. Patrick player shifts back to second.
