Baseball seniors

Business in the front, party in the back, Cleveland's six seniors, Lucas Walechka, Jackson Meyer, Ethan Fuller, Carter Dylla, Kaleb Timlin and Colin Krenik (above), are the mullet of the varsity baseball team.

“They’re happy-go-lucky, but when it gets time to get down to performing on the field, they are there,” said head coach Mike Krenik. “In the seven years I’ve been here helping coach and head coaching, I’ve never had a group of seniors like this with their leadership and good manners. They work well with the young players, and they don’t hang their heads, they don’t point fingers. They’re always positive.”

All but Timlin are three-sport athletes. Timlin played football but not basketball. While their other teams struggled this year—mostly due to injuries—usually healthy this spring, they have led the Clippers to a respectable 9-6 record so far and a second place in the Valley Conference.”

“Without the year of COVID, they would be that much better, but they still kept progressing,” Krenik said. “You see them grow, getting stronger. That adds to a lot of confidence. That’s always the fun thing to watch: them maturing into their bodies and into their minds too, into that baseball instinct, and these guys have great baseball instinct. I wish I had them another year.”

On Senior Night on Tuesday, in steady rain, the Clippers whipped up on Heron Lake-Okabena/Fulda, 14-1. The Wildcats came to town with just one win.

Walechka pitched four innings for the victory. The Clippers dispersed seven hits.

Krenik said the game was a good opportunity to build skills at the plate.

“We didn’t have great pitching that we were going against, but we were patient enough and worked on a few things. You get out there and get out in front and get things done, but when you get up to bat again, you work on your weaknesses.”  

Dylla walked, stole second, reached third on a ball that got by the catcher and scored on a Meyer grounder to put the Clippers up 1-0 in the first.

Lucas Walechka led off the second with an infield single. Timlin followed him with fly to center field for a double. Walechka scored on a Gabe Sullivan sacrifice fly, and Timlin crossed the plate on a Kyle Connor single.  

While Connor stole second, Fuller snuck home. With an infield error, Connor scored from second to put the Clippers up front 5-0.

With hits by Timlin, Tanyon Hoheisel and Walechka and five walks and an error in the mix, the Clippers scored seven runs in the third. With a walk, a hit batter and an Alex Garcia line drive to left field for a double, they posted their final run in the fourth.

After a single and a trio of passed balls, the Wildcats managed a run in the fifth, but it wasn’t enough to keep the game going after Dylla, who stepped in for Walechka at the start of the frame, fanned the last two batters.

The Clippers struck out seven times and walked nine times. Timlin had a single and a double. Walechka had two singles. Off the bench, Garcia hit a double. Connor and Hoheisel each had a single.

Walechka allowed only one hit and one walk in his four innings. He stuck out six. Dylla gave up one hit and one walk as well and whiffed three. The Clippers had two errors, one less than the Wildcats.

TCU 8, Cleveland 0

Struggling to contain the offense of Tri-City United, the Clipper varsity boys fell behind early and didn’t push a runner across the plate in an 8-0 loss to Tri-City United in Montgomery on Monday.

The double A Titans were the Minnesota River Conference winners.

TCU took the lead on a single in the first inning. The first batter got on base on an infield error. He moved to second on another Clipper error and scored on a single. A pair of Titan runs in the third, two more in the fifth and three in the sixth were extras.

The Clippers struck out seven times, walked twice and came up with five hits, all in different innings. Meyer, Dylla, Fuller and Sullivan each had a single while Walechka hit a double.

“The pitchers threw strikes but didn’t hardly throw any off-speed pitches and located fairly well, but we weren’t squaring up the ball, and when we did, it was right at people,” Krenik said. “We were taking the ball to the opposite field, but it was right at somebody, and we just couldn’t string things together, but you still have to play defense, and once we got down four or five nothing, we had some errors."

TCU had eight hits. Krenik started  on the hill for Cleveland. The lefty went four and a third innings, allowing five runs on five hits, striking out seven and walking one.

Dylla and Blake Lyons entered the game as relief, throwing one and one-third innings and one-third of an inning respectively. Dylla gave up one hit, walked one and struck out one. Lyons allowed two hits and struck out one. The Clippers made four defensive miscues. TCU had one error.

The Clippers take on Mountain Lake/Comfrey in Comfrey on Friday and have a tournament in Mankato’s Franklin Rogers Park on Saturday starting with St. James at 11:30. The other teams are Loyola and St. Clair. 

It was Parents’ Night too for the seniors. They are, from L-R, Carter Dylla, Colin Krenik, Jackson Meyer, Lucas Walechka, Kaleb Timlin and Ethan Fuller.

Third baseman Jackson Meyer sets up for a throw to second. Backing him is Carter Dylla.

Lucas Walechka recorded his second victory on Tuesday.

Ethan Fuller takes a ball inside for a walk against the Heron Lake-Okabena/Fulda Wildcats.

Under pressure from the Wildcats, Ethan Fuller steps back to first base.

Second baseman Blake Lyons readies to field a Wildcat grounder.

Throwing through rainfall, Carter Dylla whiffed three in the fifth and final inning against the Wildcats.