Lions rally in season opener to defeat Charles City 14-4

(Above) Clear Lake’s Mac Adams was the winning pitcher in a 14-4 victory over Charles City.  Adams allowed seven hits and four runs while stricking out six.  -Reporter photo by Chris Barragy

by Marianne Gasaway

Clear Lake took the lead late and defeated Charles City, 14-4, in their season-opener Monday, May 20.

“This was a great start to our season, beating a good team in such convincing fashion,” said Clear Lake Head Coach Seth Thompson.  “It was a pleasant surprise to see our offense be so productive with so many new faces in our lineup.”

The teams were scoreless in the first three innings, but with the game was tied at 2-2 in the bottom of the fourth Erik McHenry singled on a 1-1 count to drive in a run and open the flood gates for the Lions.

Mac Adams was the winning pitcher.  He lasted five and two-thirds innings, allowing seven hits and four runs while striking out six.  Connor O’Tool threw one-third of an inning in relief out of the bullpen.

“I thought Mac pitched a great game and Connor did a great job of coming in to close things out.  Mac was working ahead and challenging their hitters all night and struck out six in less than six innings of work,” said  Thompson.

The Lions scattered 10 hits in the game, led by seniors who combined to go six-for-nine with six RBIs and two doubles on the night, added the coach.  A.J. Stevenson, Chase Stuver and McHenry all had multiple hits.  Stevenson and Stuver each went three-for-three to lead the team.

It was an especially notable performance for Stuver, who didn’t enter the game until the fourth inning.  He arrived late after playing in Clear Lake’s quarterfinal soccer game in Waverly.  Stuver smacked a two-run single in the Lions’ seven-run fourth inning.

Johanningmeier took the loss for Charles City. He surrendered five runs on three hits over three and a third innings, striking out one.

Charles City had seven hits in the game.

New Hampton 10, CL 0

The Lions fell behind early and couldn’t come back in a 10-0 loss to second ranked (2A) New Hampton Wednesday, May 22.

Clear Lake had trouble containing the high-powered Chickasaw offense and gave up 10 runs.  New Hampton scored two runs in the first and three more in the second.  Two more in each of the fourth and fifth innings and one in the sixth ended the game in a 10-0 shutout.  The Chickasaws had six hits in the game.

“We just didn’t make as many plays as we needed to defensively to win this game.  We had runners on base all night but couldn’t manage to get any big hits to bring them in, and our pitchers actually pitched much better than the score would indicate,” said Coach Seth Thompson.

Singles by A.J. Stevenson, Austin Warnke and Carson Krefft  were Clear Lake’s only hits in the game.

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Andrew Formanek took the loss for the Lions.  He allowed three hits and five runs over two innings, striking out two.  Stevenson and Warnke each had time on the mound.  Stevenson pitched three innings, giving up three hits and four runs.  He struck out one and walked four.  Warnke walked one and had one run scored on him.

“We were not full squad because of soccer and golf kids not coming with, and although the score wasn’t what we would have liked to see, hopefully the experience some of these younger kids are getting this first week being short-handed will prove beneficial as the season goes on,” added the coach.

Newman 10, CL 1

Defending Class 1A State Champion Newman Catholic hosted Clear Lake Thursday in a make-up game.  The Knights jumped out to an early lead and never looked back in a 10-1 win.

“Even though we didn’t get a win on this particular night, I think this game will help us a bunch as we head into conference play the next few weeks because our hitters got to see some good pitching, and we found out that Connor and Chase can both get some really good hitters out,” said Coach Thompson.

Newman took the lead on an error in the first inning and wound up scoring three runs in  the first, three in the third, two in the fourth and two in the sixth to improve to 2-0 on the season. The Lions fell to 1-1.

The Lions struggled to put runs on the board and had a tough time defensively containing the Knights.

“We were missing a few pieces and had a few sore arms from the game the day before, and it was good opportunity to get some kids in some defensive spots they don’t normally play,” said the coach.  “We had some errors in some key spots that gave them quite a few extra runs, and good team like Newman (ranked number one in 1A) doesn’t need any extra help scoring runs.”

Connor O’Tool took the loss for the Lions.  He surrendered eight runs on four hits over three and one-third innings.  He struck out three.

Carson Krefft led the Lions with two hits in three at bats.  The only other Lion hit in the game was provided by A.J. Stevenson. Chase Stuver came in to throw two innings and struck out one and walked four.

“I was very impressed overall though by the pitching of both Connor and Chase against a really good offense.

Sammy Kratz pitched Newman Catholic to victory. He surrendered zero runs on two hits over two innings, striking out five and walking one. Merritt McCardle and Schmit entered the game out of the bullpen and helped to close out the game in relief.

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