With an onslaught of three runs in the sixth, host Waterville-Elysian-Morristown pulled within two runs of the Cleveland nine, but the Clippers held on for an 8-5 triumph to close out their regular season on Monday.
The 6-8 Clippers, ranked 15th in the subsection, travel to Sleepy Eye on Thursday to take on second-seeded St. Mary’s in a 7:00 p.m. contest.
All business in the field, the Clippers enjoy each other’s company off it, and that has made the season an enjoyable one for first-year head coach Charlie Haugen.
“It’s been a super fun year. There have been a lot of ups and downs, but it’s really great to end on a couple of wins. It came together for us today. A couple of things didn’t go our way, but that’s baseball. It’s a game of failure, a game of mistakes and a game of learning from them and getting better.”
Both teams hit right at each other for the first two innings, but in the third, Kyle Connor led off with a walk. He swiped second, shifted to third on a Blake Lyons groundout and scored when Brennan Kortuem lined his first pitch into right field for a single. Kortuem reached second on the play when a pickoff attempt went astray, and he scored when Caleb Connor slapped a hit up the middle.
The Bucs deadlocked the game 2-2 in the fifth on a walk and a triple. After the next batter walked, the runner on third scored when the Clippers tried to toss out the easy steal.
But posting five runs in the fifth, the Clippers didn’t waste time regaining the lead. Kale Kelley led off the frame with a walk, stole second, moved to third when on a third-strike passed ball and scored when Carson Lyons ripped a line drive into centerfield.
Lyons snatched second and crossed the dish when Kortuem bashed a double out to the right field fence. Kortuem advanced to third on a balk and scored when Caleb Connor hit a line drive into right field.
Connor scored when Miles Tomaszewski airmailed a hit to the centerfield fence for a double. Tomaszewski scored after Braeden Smith plunked a single into right field to put the Clippers in front 7-2.
The Bucs didn’t roll over though and, with Kyle Connor relieving his cousin Caleb Connor, led off the bottom of the sixth with a pair of singles. Connor got the next two batters to fly out, but after two-straight walks, the first runner scored. Another run scored when Connor couldn’t quite field a looper in front of the mound. He beaned the next batter, and one more run scored. Smith took over though and fanned the number five hitter to put an end to the uprising.
The Clippers bought Smith a little padding when Lyons hit a two-out single in the seventh. He stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored when the third baseman didn’t cleanly field a Kortuem grounder.
Smith fanned the first batter in the bottom of the seventh. The next hitter singled, but the game ended after a ground out followed by a fly out.
The Clippers outhit the Bucs 11-8. Tomaszewski bashed a pair of doubles. Kortuem hit a single and a double. Carson Lyons, Gabe Sullivan and Caleb Connor each rattled off two singles. Smith had one single.
The Clippers struck out just twice, walked five times and got hit by one pitch. They stranded 11 on base.
In his five innings, Caleb Connor gave up five hits for two runs, one earned. He walked four and struck out four.
It was the second start for the freshman and his first win. He prefers to be behind the plate instead of on the mound but plays pretty much anywhere.
“Right now, they need me to wherever I can be. I was struggling a little bit, but I had the defense behind.”
Connor had tough luck two thirds of an inning. He allowed two hits, walked two and gave up three runs one earned. In an inning and a third, Smith allowed one hit and whiffed two.
The Clippers had two errors, one more than WEM.
In the Valley Conference, the Clippers were 1-5. While they were beaten decisively by Madelia and LCWM, they lost to Martin Luther/GHEC/Truman by just a run in nine innings, fell to Loyola by three after tying the Crusaders in the fifth, and had a command over St. Clair in two other meetings but lost in the conference game by three runs in the 10th.
Madelia and LCWM each had one loss in the Valley. Madelia fell to Loyola. LCWM lost to Madelia.
In Section 2A, Springfield is seeded at the top. Sleepy Eye is number two, and New Ulm Cathedral is the fourth seed. Mankato Loyola is fifth, and Madelia is sixth is seventh.
The winner of SESM vs Cleveland takes on the winner of ML/GHEC/Truman vs Mountain Lake at the high seed.
Above: The Clippers congratulate themselves after the victory.
