Above: Jackson Meyer tags a St. James Area runner caught in a rundown.
One run separated a win and a loss for the Cleveland Clippers in the four-team Loyola tournament, played on Mankato’s Franklin Rogers field on Saturday.
St. Clair edged the Clippers 11-10 in the first game, eliminating the Clippers from a prequel against the Crusaders. Instead, the Clippers will take on the conference leader today (Thursday).
But the Clippers bounced back to beat St. James 6-5. Loyola walked off with a win against the Saints earlier in the day and then 10-runned the Cyclones in five to win their tourney.
They a few slips on the artificial turf throughout the day. A couple of players were missing as well, and so the Clippers played young at times. Alex McCabe was not back in the pitching rotation after a shoulder injury, and so head coach Mike Krenik had to extend the pitching a little longer than he wanted to.
“It was sloppy at times,” Krenik said. “We missed signs. You deal with what you got, but we hung in there. Everybody’s got to contribute.”
Vs St. Clair
On two errors and a walk, the Clippers jumped out 2-0, but the Cyclones, who were easily downed twice by the Clippers earlier in the season, responded with two doubles and two singles for four runs.
The Clippers quickly regained the lead though. Colin Krenik led off the second with a walk. Kaleb Timlin hit an infield single and reached second on the play on a throwing error. Krenik scored on an Ethan Fuller ground out. Carter Dylla bashed a ground-rule double for an RBI and scored himself on an Elijah Sullivan single to put the Clippers up front 5-4.
The Clippers added to their lead in the third. With two outs, Krenik singled, stole second, advanced to third on a Timlin single and scored on a Fuller single. Timlin crossed the plate on a Dylla double to put the Clippers in front 7-4.
The Cyclones capitalized on a single, a walk, an error and a double to knot the game at seven after three. On a walk, a pair of singles and a triple, they pulled in front 11-7 after four.
Dylla replaced Krenik on the mound in the fifth, and the Clippers cut their deficit to a run in the sixth.
Sullivan walked, Lucas Walechka got hit by a pitch, and McCabe was safe on a bunt to load the bases. Gabe Sullivan found a spot of open real-estate in short right to score his older brother. Walechka got a free pass to the plate when Jackson Meyer took one for the team. McCabe scored on a Krenik grounder.
With the top of the order starting out the seventh, the Clippers were well poised to regain the lead. They got the tying run on first when Dylla walked and then stole second. Elijah Sullivan walked too.
With no outs, Dylla reached third on a passed ball, and Sullivan stole second. But with two strikeouts and a fly out, the Cyclones stymied the uprising to preserve the win.
“I’m going to beat myself up that I didn’t try to bunt the last runner in,” Krenik said. “This is a tournament game. This is when you are supposed to be doing stuff like that.”
The Clippers had 10 hits. Dylla cracked two doubles. Krenik had a single and a double. Timlin had two singles. Elijah Sullivan, McCabe, Fuller and Gabe Sullivan each had one single.
In four innings, Krenik walked two, gave up 11 hits and fanned four. In two innings, Dylla whiffed five and allowed no hits or walks. The Clippers had three errors, two fewer than St. Clair.
Vs SJA
Elijah Sullivan singled, advanced on a McCabe single and scored on a wild pitch in the top of the first against St. James Area. The Saints answered with a run on a single, a stolen base, a wild pitch and an RBI ground out.
In the second, Jackson Meyer walked, moved to second on a stray pitch and scored on a Timlin single. In the third, Dylla walked, reached third on a errant throw to second when he was stealing and scored on an Elijah Sullivan line dive to put the Clippers up 3-1 in the top of the third.
The Saints regained the lead in the bottom of the third after a fielder’s choice, a hit batter and three doubles brought in four runs for a 5-3 lead.
But the Clippers took the lead right back in the bottom of the fourth. Krenik walked, advanced on back-to-back bunt singles by Meyer and Timlin and scored when Carter Barto singled in his second ever varsity at bat.
Dylla hit into a fielder’s choice that scored Meyer and Timlin and put the Clippers up 6-5.
St. James rallied in the sixth, but Walechka, now on the mound, made a couple of good choices on comebackers, nailing the lead runner at second and later connecting with Meyer at catcher for a force out a the plate.
It was all Walechka again in the bottom of the seventh, first whiffing the first two batters and then fielding another comebacker and nailing the runner at first to ice the win.
Each team totaled nine hits. Timlin and Elijah Sullivan each hit two singles. Dylla, Meyer, Krenik, Barto and McCabe each had one single.
Before he reached his pitch maximum, Dylla gave up six hits, no walks and struck out two in four innings. Walechka didn’t allow a run in his three innings in relief. He allowed three hits, no walks and struck out four. The Clippers had five errors, one more than the Saints.
“Lucas was kind of tentative right away, not throwing his fast balls hard and down in the strike zone, but then he settled in and worked the knees well,” Krenik said.
Today’s game vs Loyola is back on Franklin Rogers field.
Alex McCabe tosses to first to put out a St. Clair runner.
Lucas Walechka defends third on a SJA steal.
Carter Dylla tags out a SJA runner trying to steal second.
Carter Barto got a hit in his second varsity at bat.