Lions pick up four wins

by Marianne Gasaway

The Clear Lake baseball team provided plenty of fireworks during a busy holiday week of action.  The Lions posted four wins to move their record to 13-11 overall and 8-3 in the North Central Conference.

CL 7, Algona 6

The Lions defeated Algona, 7-6, on Monday, July 1, thanks to a walk-off single.

The game was tied at 6-6 in the bottom of the seventh inning when Erik McHenry singled on a 3-2 count to score Andrew Formanek and win the game.  Formanek had started the inning reaching base on a walk and advanced to second on a ground out by Mitchell Raber.  He took third on a line drive single to center field by Caden Jones.

The Lions started quick, with two runs in the first inning, thanks largely to shaky pitching from the Bulldog staff.  McHenry and Austin Warnke both walked to lead off the inning, then took second and third on a single from Chase Stuver.  McHenry scored on a passed ball and Warnke came home on a wild pitch for a 2-0 Lions lead.

Algona responded to the challenge with a pair of runs in the second and three more in the third for a 5-2 lead.  Formanek was on the mound first and was charged with Algona’s first two runs.  The first scored on a wild pitch, while the second came in on a bases loaded walk.

Mac Adams came in to relieve in the third with one out and a runner on second.  Algona took the lead on a single, pushed it to 4-2 on a wild pitch and finished the inning ahead 5-2 after a sacrifice fly. They added a sixth run in the top of the fourth.

The Lions began their comeback in the bottom of the fourth, again helped by walks.  Formanek and Raber both walked, setting the stage for Adams to hit a line drive to load the bases.  Two more walks scored Formanek and Raber and a fielder’s choice by Warnke brought Brecken Arndt to pull the Lions within one, 6-5.  Clear Lake tied the score in the bottom of the sixth when PJ Feuerbach singled to score Warnke, who reached base with a two-out single.

Adams earned the victory on the hill. He went five and one-third innings, allowing four runs on five hits and striking out three.  Formanek surrendered two runs on two hits over one and two-thirds innings, striking out two.

Jones led the Lions with two hits in two trips to the plate.  McHenry was credited with a team-high two RBIs.

“I was curious to see how they would respond after a disappointing loss on Friday (June 28), and I thought they showed a lot of character by battling back for an important conference win after getting behind 6-2,” said Clear Lake Coach Seth Thompson.  “Mac did a nice job of battling through some tough spots, and our offense did a nice job of coming through with some key hits in the late innings, including a walk-off hit by Erik McHenry.  Caden Jones has been a big lift for us over the last week, and tonight he was a big reason why we ended up with the win.”

CL 16, Washington 7 (9)

Clear Lake stole the lead late and defeated Washington 16-7 on Tuesday.  The game was tied at 6-6 with the Lions batting in the top of the ninth when Mac Adams doubled on a 2-2 count, scoring one run.  That was followed by a fielder’s choice from Caden Jones, single from Erik McHenry, fielder’s choice by Austin Warnke and a double from Chase Stuver which scored two and put the score at 12-6.  AJ Stevenson and Eric Ritter both got on base with the help of errors and with no one out, Andrew Formanek walked to load the bases.  Singles by Andrew Crane and Jones scored runs and gave the Lions a 15-6 lead.  The margin grew to 10 when McHenry hit a ground ball to score Clear Lake’s final run.

“I was very proud of how our kids performed on the field and the support and energy they gave each other from the bench in both the JV and Varsity games,” said Coach Seth Thompson.  “After a longer than normal bus trip, they came out with a ton of energy and had a lot of fun playing ball all night, and managed to extend their fun by playing two extra innings.”

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Eric Ritter was the winning pitcher. He gave up three runs on four hits over five and two-thirds innings, striking out nine.  Connor O’Tool started the game for the Lions.  He was touched for four runs on five hits over three and one-third innings, striking out six.

The Lions had 15 hits in the game. McHenry, Jones, Warnke, Adams and Stuiver each racked up multiple hits. Jones and McHenry led the team with three apiece.

Clear Lake was also aggressive on the base paths and finished with six stolen bases.  Warnke topped the team with three.

“We had some big pitches from Eric and some big plays from our defense to keep the game going in the late innings when they were threatening to walk off with a win, and then we came out swinging in the ninth inning to grab the lead and eventually the win,” added Coach Thompson. “Even though we left more runners on base throughout the game than we would like, it is nice to see multiple kids in our lineup start getting hot as the season comes to a close and districts begin.”

CL 8, St. Ed’s 4

The Lions snagged a late lead and defeated St. Edmond 8-4 on Wednesday in a conference matchup.

The Gaels led 4-2 through five innings, but the Lions clawed their way back in the sixth.  The game was tied at 4-4 with the Lions batting in the top of the sixth when Erik McHenry drew a walk, scoring the go-ahead run.  They went on to plate six runs in the inning for the 8-4 victory.

“We made quite a few mental mistakes throughout this game, especially on the bases, but luckily our offense came through with a big sixth inning to take the lead back,” said Coach Seth Thompson.

The Lions opened up scoring in the first inning when Austin Warnke grounded out, scoring Erik McHenry, who had reached base on a walk.   They added another in the third after Chase Stuver walked, advanced on a single by AJ Stevenson and scored on a balk.

St. Ed’s reclaimed the lead with two runs in the third and another in the fifth charged to McHenry, who came in from the bullpen to relieve starter Andrew Formanek.  McHenry got the win, allowing six hits and three runs over six innings. He struck out six. Formanek allowed two hits and one run over one inning, striking out one.

A.J. Stevenson went two-for-four at the plate to lead the Lions in hits.

“Erik did a great job all night pitching and I thought got better and better each inning he was out there,” said Coach Thompson.  “AJ had a huge hit to start the pivotal sixth inning and has been having great at bats all year long and has put together a great season thus far.”

Chase Stuver was an RBI machine on Friday, driving in four on two hits to lead the Lions past Iowa Falls-Alden 14-4.  Stuver drove in runs on a double in the second and a single in the fifth.

“It was great to see our kids come back from an early 3-0 hole to walk away with another key conference win,” said Coach Seth Thompson.  “This was our third time this week we have come from behind to get a win, and the fourth win was an extra inning win - these are the types of games you like to see as the postseason draws near and hopefully will give our kids confidence that they are capable of doing this on any given night.”

The Cadets scored three runs in the first inning, but the Lions still managed to pull out the victory. Clear Lake pulled away for good with four runs in the second.  Erik McHenry doubled on the first pitch of his at-bat, scoring two runs, and Stuver doubled to bring home two more.

The firepower to score five runs in the fifth inning was provided by Austin Warnke, Stuver, A.J. Stevenson, Andrew Formanek and Mac Adams. Each drove in runs in the inning.

McHenry, Formanek, Mitchell Raber, Warnke and Stuver all had multiple hits in the victory.

‘We ended up with 12 hits in only five innings of work, so top to bottom our lineup was doing some great things and applying pressure to their defense all night long,” said Thompson.

Connor O’Tool got the win.  He pitched for five innings, giving up four runs on six hits. He struck out five.

“ I thought Connor did a great job of battling through a tough first inning and just got stronger as the game went on,” said Thompson.

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