Broken, bruised but not beaten, the Clipper baseball team overcame injuries to upset host Springfield, the section second seed, in an elimination game yesterday (Thursday).
The 8-5 victory upends last year’s season-ending 8-5 loss to the Tigers. The Clippers now have another shot at Mankato Loyola, a team that beat them twice in the regular season, on Saturday in a 3:30 game in Sleepy Eye.
Alex Kortuem (above) tossed the first five and a third innings before reaching his pitch count limit. While he handed out 10 free passes, including six beaned batters, and gave up four hits for three earned runs, the senior retired batters when he needed to, stranding 10 Tigers on base.
Miles Tomaszewski, recovered from a hurt shoulder that limited his mound time in the loss to Sleepy Eye on Tuesday, survived some final inning drama to secure the W.
In the most important game of his career, Kortuem was high key main character at the dish as well in a three-for-four effort, including a pair of doubles and a single for three RBIs. He said he felt pressure at the start, but after his first hit—a double in the second—and when he stepped on the mound before that, it “flushed down the drain.”
“I was not going to let this be the last game, so I knew I had to come out and throw strikes. I didn’t do that for a while, but then at the end there, I kind of dialed it in, and then I hit my max. But I did pretty well at the plate today.”
Trailing 3-2, the Clippers took the lead in the top of the fourth and were never behind after.
Hit by a pitch, leadoff batter Tomaszewski got the party started. Caleb Connor air expressed a two bagger to deep left field before Kortuem ripped a double to left field to score Tomaszewski and Urijah Hoheisel, who was running for Connor, for a 4-3 Clipper lead.
After a strikeout and a flyout, Kortuem scored on a Nolan Schlaak line drive single to right field. Schlaak got caught off base at second, but the Clippers were in front 5-3.
On a fly out to end the inning, Kortuem escaped a bases-loaded quagmire in the bottom of the fourth, and the Clippers went back to work in the fifth for three more runs.
Facing a new pitcher, top-of-the-order Tony Hollerich led off the frame with a walk. Carson Lyons, playing with an injured throwing hand, laid down a sacrifice bunt, and Tomaszewski popped up for the second out. But Connor walked, and Kortuem drove a hit into left field to bring Hollerich across the plate.
Playing with a hairline fracture in his foot, Braeden Smith snuck a grounder by the third baseman to bring in courtesy runner Hoheisel. Kortuem scored when Kiptyn Coon airmailed a double to deep right field for an 8-3 Clipper advantage.
The Tigers, who were ranked in the state top 10 all season, didn’t go down easily though. Tomaszewski walked the first batter in the seventh. Capitalizing on an errant putout throw, the Tigers had runners poised on second and third with no outs. Tomaszewski fanned the next batter but beaned the one after and struck out the next batter looking.
From there, a run scored on an errant putout throw at first, and another run scored on a single before Tomaszewski, on a 3-2 count, stunned the next batter looking to end the revolt.
“The kids played hard,” said head coach Walker Froehling. “Alex played really well. He struggled early on, but he bore down and took over and took control and made the plays when it mattered. We hit well too. Springfield is a really good team and didn’t make an error. We put the ball in play and hit when we needed to.”
With a walk, a single, and a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the first, the Tigers drew first blood, but catcher Connor caught a runner stealing, and even though he gave up another walk and single, Kortuem managed to pop the next batter up for the third out.
The Clippers took the lead in the top of the second when Connor led off with a walk. Running for him, Hoheisel advanced to third on a Kortuem double and scored on a Smith groundout. Coon dropped a sacrifice bunt to bring in Kortuem from third.
Springfield took a brief lead in the bottom of the third after Kortuem pegged two batters and walked one to load the bases. The next batter hit a grounder to score a run, and the Clippers forced out the runner heading to second, but the throw to first for a double play was off target, and another run scored on the error to put the Tigers in front 3-2.
After Kortuem beaned another batter, he gave up a hit, but Smith picked it up at second and hurled it to home, where Connor tagged out the runner to limit the damage.
The Clippers outhit the Tigers 9-5. Connor ripped a pair of doubles and walked twice. Coon slammed a double that brought in two runs. Smith hit a single for a pair of runs. Schlaak singled for an RBI. Jack Mons collected a single. The Clippers struck out four times, were beaned three times and walked three times. They left five on base.
Kortuem sat down four batters. In his inning and two thirds, Tomaszewski allowed one hit, and one walk while ringing up three, two of them looking, and leaving three on base. The two runs scored in his tenure on the rubber were unearned. The Clippers erred three times while the Tigers didn’t commit an error.
A year ago in Springfield, with the bases loaded in the sixth, Tomaszewski representing the go-ahead run at the plate, sent a hit all the way to centerfield fence, but the fielder made a running catch to end the inning, and the Tigers held on for the win.
That disappointment at the plate loomed large for the sophomore during the long bus ride west, but instead, Tomaszewski did his work at the mound as the best he came up with in his role as a cleanup batter was getting hit by a pitch.
“It was so on my mind. I was swinging my shoes off today. I wanted to see if I could hit it out, but it didn’t work.”
With an 8-4 win, top-seeded Madelia sent fourth-ranked Loyola to the elimination bracket. In other section action, Sleepy Eye, the third seed, edged cross-town rival St. Mary’s 4-3 to earn the right to take on Madelia in the semifinal. The winner of Cleveland vs Loyola plays the winner of SESM vs. New Ulm Cathedral in Sleepy Eye on Tuesday at 7:30.
Kiptyn Coon drops down an RBI bunt.
Alex Kortuem avoided a tag at the plate on this slide after a Nolan Schlaak single.
Carson Lyons fouls back a bunt attempt.
Jack Mons dives back to first after getting hit by a pitch.
Caleb Connor tags a runner out after a receiving a throw from Braeden Smith.
In relief for Alex Kortuem, Miles Tomaszewski survived a couple of infield errors in the seventh.
Braeden Smith reaches for a routine catch for the third out in the sixth.
Head coach Walker Froehling debriefs the Clippers after the win.