Clear Lake upends Columbus in five inninngs to win 2A title

The Clear Lake baseball team simply would not be denied.

The Lions captured their second State baseball title in three years on Saturday, dominating Class 2A opponents on the way.  Clear Lake outscored its three opponents in Des Moines 36-2 to win the 2A state title. The Lions posted a 20-1 win in the semifinals, setting all-time state tournament records for most runs scored and widest margin of victory.

The Lions, which needed two walk-off grand slams to get to state, won the 2A title with an 11-1 win over Columbus Catholic in the championship game.

Clear Lake left the bases loaded in the first inning, but came back with five runs in the second and six runs in the third on their way to an 11-1 win over Columbus in five innings.

“They were up against one of the best pitchers in the state this season in Luke Farley, who was coming into the game at 10-0 with an ERA under 1 and a Division I scholarship to Iowa, but the reality on this night was that our kids were simply not going to be denied a championship no matter what pitcher or team was in their way,” said Clear Lake Coach Seth Thompson.

Farley fought his way out of a bases loaded jam in the bottom of the first by striking out two Lions. After that inning, though, Clear Lake started delivering blows to the Sailors.

A leadoff single by Ethan McHenry and a walk to Matt Stephany put two Lions on with none out in the bottom of the second. Parker Truesdell’s sacrifice bunt attempt was fielded by Farley, but his third baseman could not handle the throw and bases were loaded.  A walk to Cooper Merrill scored the Lions’ first run and a sacrifice fly by Ben Mason made the score 2-0.  Farley committed an error on an infield hit from Brock Adams and the wheels really began to come off the cart when Mitch Keeran delivered a fly ball to right centerfield that one-hopped to the wall.  The double scored three runs, putting the Lions ahead 5-0 after two innings.

Farley, who won the 2A quarterfinal game with Hinton and saved the Sailors’ semifinal thriller against top-seeded Cascade, left the mound after two innings and just one earned run. But the damage had been done.

The Lions tacked on six more runs in the third, two of them earned.  They used two hits, supplied by Truesdell and Adams, along with three walks and two errors to push the lead to 11-0 .

Adams had a no-hitter going until the fourth inning when a base hit to right field put a Sailor aboard the base paths.  The runner scored on an uncharacteristic Lion error.

Adams finished an amazing season fittingly by striking out Columbus’ best hitter and finishing the season by only allowing eight earned runs in over 63 innings pitched for an astonishing ERA of 0.44.    His outing against Columbus was a two-hitter.  He struck out six and walked one.

“Our offense did a great job of taking whatever their pitcher and defense was giving them and when they gave us an opportunity to get some runs on the board they capitalized in a huge way,” said Thompson.  “Mitch clearing the bases with a  double in the second inning really broke things open and put his team in a great spot to finish off the win and earn a well-deserved State Championship.”

Parker Truesdell led Clear Lake offensively with two hits and two runs scored. The Lions finished with six hits.

The Lions (30-11) became the seventh school in Iowa high school history to win two state championships in different classes. They claimed a Class 3A title two years ago.  The Lions, who started the season as the top ranked team in Class 2A, were the number three seed in the tournament.  Waterloo Columbus was the number four seed.

“It’s never going to get old, to win a State title, you just get to see these kids’ emotions coming out of the dugout, and working hard to get to this spot.

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You know all the work they put in and get rewarded for it,” said Thompson.

“It’s the happiest moment of my life,” Keeran said after getting free from the dog pile Clear Lake players made after the win.  “We knew we were state-championship caliber,” added the senior, who was also a member of the 2013 championship team.

Adams said he was a little surprised by the title, and certainly by the margin of victory the Lions had over their opponents.

“It is tough to describe how special this team and group of seniors are,” said Coach Thompson. The Lions will lose nine seniors who rolled up a record of 131-25 and captured two state titles.   “They are obviously great players and have proven that on the field with two State titles in three years, but what I think is more impressive is how great of kids and young men they are and the attitude and leadership all nine of them have brought to the field every day whether they were in the lineup that given day or not.  I couldn’t be happier for them and the rest of their team.  It will be sad to not see them wearing black and gold next year, but the nice part is that they will be able to continue to amaze and better this community or whatever community they live in by just being good and giving people and that in my opinion is far more important.”

Among the many special notes to the title is the fact that 2015 became the fifth time that two teams from the same county have won state baseball titles in the same year.  Newman Catholic also put on a stellar performance and defeated Pleasantville in five innings in the first game on Saturday.  Newman and Clear Lake became the first pair of teams to accomplish it twice with their wins in 2013 and 2015.  In their second game of the season the Lions defeated the Knights, 8-7, for county bragging rights.  In 2013, Newman picked up a win over the Lions then went on to win State.  Coaches from both sides and their fans love the rivalry and say it contributes to their respective success.

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