Hogan’s heroics lifts the Lions; grand slam pushes CL past Forest City

[caption id="attachment_11712" align="alignleft" width="270"] It was a close call, but Zach Lester beat the catcher to slide safely into home base during the Tuesday, July 14 game against Central Springs. The Lions defeated the Panthers, 11-1. -Reporter photos by Chris Barragy[/caption]

Could it be deja vu all over again?

Clear Lake Head Baseball Coach Seth Thompson said his team’s rally to top Forest City in the bottom of the seventh inning Saturday night put him in the mind of the Lions’ State Champion 2013 team.

“If you are going to make a run in postseason play you need to battle through games like this when your back is against the wall and it was a ton of fun to see these kids bring back some the postseason magic that carried them through the postseason two years ago,” said Thompson.

Jacob Hogan smashed a grand slam in the bottom of the seventh inning to give the Lions (26-11) a 10-7 victory over Forest City (19-17) in the District final played Saturday at Clear Lake.  The win put the Lions, who ended the regular season ranked fifth in Class 2A, in a Substate game against St. Edmond Tuesday night (July 21) in Algona.  St. Edmond had their own come-from-behind heroics to advance to Sub-State.  The Gaels were down 5-0 before tying their game with Southeast Valley heading into the seventh. They won, 6-5, on a walk-off bases-loaded walk.   The Lions split with St. Ed’s during the regular season, winning the first match-up in June by a score of 12-2; they lost the second meeting, 0-2.

CL 10, Forest City 7

“It is hard to think of a more exciting moment in sports than a walk-off grand slam when your team is behind, and I am sure that every person playing or watching this game will remember that moment for years to come,” said Coach Thompson after senior Jacob Hogan hit a grand slam in the bottom of the seventh inning to give the Lions a 10-7 win over Forest City in the District final.

“We definitely didn’t play our best game tonight defensively, and our pitchers were struggling at times, but Jacob picked us up in dramatic fashion with a very deep grand slam that kept our season going and gave us a chance to play for a ticket to State Tuesday,” said Thompson.

Both teams put three runs on the board in the first inning, with Clear Lake taking a 4-3 lead in the third.

However, the Indians broke the game open in the top of the fourth on back-to-back two-RBI hits by Tanner Thompson and Mitch Lambert to give Forest City a 7-4 advantage.

Rowdy Yates continued his long ball hit streak with a solo homer for the Lions in the bottom of the fourth, and Cooper Merrill scored on an error an inning later to make the score 7-6.

“Rowdy had a huge home run in the fifth inning to help us claw back from a 7-4 hole and with a little help from the wind could easily have had four home runs in the last two games,” said Thompson.

The Indians kept the pressure on in the top of the sixth by loading the bases, but relief pitcher Brock Adams got out of the jam.  Adams kept the Indians from scoring, recording eight strikeouts in the 10 outs he got for the team.

Adams got the win, pitching three and one-third innings and limiting the Indians to just one hit.  He struck out eight and walked two.  Merrill and Ben Mason also threw for the Lions.  Merrill gave up three hits and three runs, two of them earned, in two-thirds of an inning pitched.  Ben Mason pitched three innings, allowing four hits and four runs.  He struck out three.

With their backs against the wall in the bottom of the seventh the Lions, luck combined with timely hitting, supplied the outcome.  Cooper Merrill, Brock Adams and Mitch Keeran were on base with one our when Hogan unleashed his home run hit to left centerfield off of Colton Shipman.   It was his fourth round-tripper of the year.

The Forest City coaching staff toyed with pulling Shipman from the mound after he walked Adams to load the bases.  In the game, the sophomore allowed seven runs on eight hits.  Six runs were earned.  He struck out two and walked four.

Merrill had there hits in the game, including a double. Keeran had two hits, while Adams, Hogan and Yates each had one.

CL 11, Central Springs 1

Brock Adams had three runs batted in and struck out seven to pick up the win as Clear Lake downed Central Springs 11-1 in five innings in a Class 2A District 4 semifinal round contest in Clear Lake Tuesday, July 14.

“Any win in District play is a big one, and to win in 10-run fashion is huge because it keeps arms fresh,” said Coach Thompson.

Rowdy Yates had a solo homer, was a triple shy of the cycle, and drove in two runs to help the Lions advance to Saturday night’s district final against Forest City.  Yates clubbed his homer in the third inning, to put the Lions ahead, 5-0.  They doubled the scored in the fifth and ended the game by the 10-run rule in the sixth with another score.

In addition to Yates’ three hits, Adams had two, including a double.  Keeran, Hogan, Parker Truesdell and Devin Uhlenhopp each had singles.  Adams had a team-high four RBIs.

Adams was impressive on the mound, holding the Panthers to three hits,  He struck out seven and walked two.

“Central Springs played well the last half of the year, so it was nice to see us put up such a complete game against a good team,” added Thompson.