Visiting 11-ranked GFW didn’t give the sixth-seeded Clipper boys a ton of trouble in the first round of the Section 2A playoffs on Thursday.
The 12-3 victory sets up a game against third-seeded and host Sleepy Eye tomorrow (Tuesday) at 5:00 p.m.
It was a productive day for sophomore Miles Tomaszewski (above), who was three for four at the plate and, 60 feet from there, added 10 strikeouts and a W to his resume.
“I thought we played really well. I thought our guys hit the ball well,” said head coach Walker Froehling. “They did the small things really well. Miles and (reliever) Alex (Kortuem) got in a trouble few times with walks and hitting a few guys, but they were able to work out of it. If they can limit free passes it will be tough to beat them. I think we’re in a good spot.”
After Tomaszewski retired the side 1-2-3 in both the first and second innings, with five of the six batters striking out, the Clippers made a statement in the bottom of the second with six runs.
Kortuem led off with a walk and reached second on a wild pitch. Braeden Smith swatted a grounder to left field for a single with Kortuem going to second on the play. Kiptyn Coon laid down a bunt, but the Firebirds committed an infield error, and Kortuem came home while Coon landed safely on first.
Smith scored from third on a Nolan Schlaak single. Jack Mons hit a bunt single to saturate the bases. Back at the top of the order, Tony Hollerich hit into a fielder’s choice, scoring Pierce Lyons, who was running for Coon.
Carson Lyons elevated a sacrifice fly to bring Schlaak across the dish before Tomaszewski ripped a three bagger that scored Hollerich. Finally, Caleb Connor cracked a line drive to left field to bring in Tomaszewski for a 6-0 Clipper advantage.
The Firebirds posted their first run in the fourth after a pair of singles and a hit batter loaded the bases and a walk forced a baserunner home. But Tomaszewski dug in from there and rang up the next two batters to limit the damage.
On a single, an RBI double, a hit batter followed by back-to-back walks, the Birds scored two runs in the fifth to narrow their deficit to three, but the inning ended when Connor, from his spot behind the plate, picked off the runner at second.
But it was all Clippers the rest of the way with three runs in the fifth and three more in the sixth.
Tomaszewski led off the fifth with a single. From there, the Clippers hit three-straight singles. The first came off Kortuem’s bat. Next up, Smith hit a grounder to left field for the RBI before Coon grounded to center field to score Smith and Kortuem.
Carson Lyons led off the bottom of the sixth with a single and stole second. Keeping his bat in high gear, Tomaszewski singled for the RBI. Despite separating the barrel of his bat from the handle, Connor singled too, and he and Tomaszewski traversed the plate when the GFW center fielder couldn’t get a handle on a Coon fly ball.
The Clippers out hit the Firebirds 12-4. Tomaszewski was three for four with a triple and a pair of singles for two RBIs. Lyons, Smith, Schlaak and Connor each had a pair of singles and one RBI. Coon hit a single and brought in three runs. Mons and Kortuem each hit a single. The Clippers walked four times and only struck out twice. They stranded five on base.
“One through nine we hit,” Froehling said.
In four and two thirds innings, Tomaszewski allowed four hits, four walks and beaned two batters for three earned runs. When Tomaszewski was a couple of throws away from his count limit, Kortuem took over and threw an inning and a third. He didn’t allow a hit, walked four and struck out five. GFW left 10 on base.
GFW erred three times while the Clipper defense was flawless.
The victor of Cleveland vs. Sleepy Eye takes on the winner of seventh-ranked Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s vs second-seeded Springfield at the high seed on Thursday. The losers of both of those contests square off in the elimination bracket at the high seed, also on Thursday.
On the other side of the bracket, top-seeded Madelia will take on eighth-ranked Mountain Lake Area while number four Mankato Loyola/Immanuel Lutheran hosts number five New Ulm Cathedral.
After grabbing a putout throw from Caleb Connor behind the plate, Carson Lyons tagged out this runner.
Caleb Connor hit a broken bat single in the sixth inning. Bats aren’t cheap these days with a $500 price tag typical he said.