Big week of wins for the Lions

by Marianne Gasaway

The Clear Lake baseball team had a good week, going 2-0 with wins over Algona and Forest City. The Lions improved to 8-4 going into Monday night’s big conference game with Humboldt.

“We have been great playing some small ball and Andrew Formanek pitched a gem against Algona,” said Head Coach AJ Feuerbach.  “We need to stay consistent going into our last two weeks before the tournament starts on July, 17.

CL 5, Algona 1

Clear Lake scored two runs in the sixth and three more in the seventh inning to notch a 5-1 victory over Algona Monday, June 29.

Andrew Formanek took the win for the Lions.  He pitched six and two-thirds innings, allowing one hit and one run while striking out 13.  Eric Ritter came out of the bullpen in relief.  He recorded the last out to earn a save.

The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fifth inning when the Bulldogs put a runner on base with a walk from Formanek.  The runner scored on a balk.

The Lions took the lead in the sixth when Ritter singled and advanced on a walk issued to Formanek.  Back-to-back passed balls allowed the runs to score and gave the Lions a 2-1 lead.

In the seventh, Ritter and Formanek added RBIs to their line.  The inning started with a walk to Aaron Warnke and single by PJ Feuerbach.  A sacrifice fly by Ritter scored Warnke and Feuerbach came in on a ground ball off the bat of Formanek.  Conor O’Tool walked and Carson Krefft grounded out before another balk from the Algona pitcher brought Formanek in to score for the 5-1 final.

O’Tool, Ritter, Feuerbach, Erik McHenry and Formanek each collected one hit.

CL 11, Forest City 5

The Lions cruised to an easy victory over Forest City, 11-5, on Thursday, July 2.

The Indians got on the board first with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third inning, but the Lions responded with five in the fourth and never looked back.

In the fourth, a walk to Brecken Arndt was followed by two hit batsmen to load the bases.  A walk to Erik McHenry brought in the first run.  Next, Austin Warnke sacrificed and reached base on an error, scoring another run. PJ Feuerbach singled on a bunt to the third baseman, giving the Lions a 3-2 lead.  Eric Ritter then sacrificed to left and McHenry raced home.  A line drive to right field off the bat of Aaron Formanek pushed the lead to 5-2.

Warnke started off the sixth with a double and was joined on the base paths by Feuerbach, who walked.  The pair advanced to second and third with a double steal.  Carson Krefft joined them on base with a walk and Formanek batted in another run with a sacrifice fly to center.  Conor O’Tool’s line drive single to center scored Warnke to make the score 7-2.  Mitchel Raber pounded out a single to score Krefft and courtesy runner Tyres Green-Harrington.

The Lions tacked on two more runs in the top of the seventh when McHenry was hit by a pitch, followed by a walk to Feuerbach.  Noah Mason hit a two-out ground ball and reached base on a error which scored both McHenry and Feuerbach.

The Indians tried to rally in the bottom of the seventh. They scored two runs before being shut down by Jett Neuberger, who was pitching in relief.

Arndt picked up the win for the Lions.  He surrendered two runs on one hit over three innings. Neuberger threw four innings in relief out of the bullpen.

Truman Knudtson took the loss for Forest City. He allowed seven hits and nine runs over five and two-thirds innings, striking out four.  Warnke led the Lions with two hits in four at bats.