Lions dominate in NCC; struggle at tournament

[caption id="attachment_11265" align="alignleft" width="270"] Clear Lake’s Mitch Keeran is one of the leading batters for the Lions. Against Clarion-Goldfield-Dows he picked up two hits and later in the week recorded a three-run homer. -Reporter photo by Chris Barragy[/caption]

Clear Lake dominated North Iowa competition last week, but ran into trouble against larger schools playing in the Brent Prange Classic hosted by Saydel High School and played in the Des Moines metro area.

The Lions started the week with four wins, but then dropped three straight games to go to 18-9 overall and 7-1 in North Central Conference play. They are currently ranked fifth in Class 2A.

“I told the kids after the (Saturday) game that we didn’t set up our schedule the way we did, including being the only 2A team in two different tournaments of all 4A teams, because we were concerned about wins and losses.  If we were worried about wins and losses we could play a lot of tournaments with worse teams and pad our win column.  But you never get stronger as an athlete unless you eventually add some weight to your barbell, and we feel competing against the very best teams in the state will make us a better team when district play begins in a few weeks.

CL 7, St. Ansgar 1

CL 10, St. Ansgar 0 (5)

The Lions earned a couple of non-conference wins against St. Ansgar Tuesday, June 23. They took the first game, 7-1, then shut out the Saints in five innings, 10-0.

“St. Ansgar is a good team with a 14-4 record before the day started, so to pick up two wins at their place and outscoring them 17-1 on the day was nice to see,” said Coach Thompson.

It took a while to get the offense going in the first game, but Brandon Tofte was in control on the mound and the defense was solid behind him.  The Saints didn’t put their run on the scoreboard until the sixth inning.

Rowdy Yates swung a hot bat with two doubles to lead the offense.  Ethan McHenry had two hits, as well. Ben Mason picked up two RBIs with a single.   

Tofte allowed six hits, struck out two and walked two in six innings of work.  Jacob Peterson pitched the final inning, giving up two hits.

In the second game, the Lion offense was strong from the start.  They scored 10 runs through three innings, led by Jacob Hogan with two home runs.  Mason and McHenry had three hits and two RBIs apiece.  Cooper Merrill, Parker Truesdell and Jacob Hogan each had two hits.

McHenry was the winning pitcher, allowing just six hits in five innings.  He struck out three and walked one.

CL 11, C-G-D 0 (5)

The Lions posted a lopsided 11-0 victory over Clarion-Goldfield-Dows Wednesday, June 24.

“We love to give kids opportunities to be amazing and it was awesome to see Brad Burns, in his first start at the varsity level, come out and completely dominate the game from the mound,” said Coach Thompson.   Burns recorded eight strikeouts in five innings and issued no walks and only gave up two hits.   “Our offense did a nice job of taking advantage of the opportunities we got in the first inning to score and was able to put up eight runs.”

Hogan was still a leader at the plate with three hits, including a double, and three RBIs.  Mitch Keeran, Truesdell and Zach Lester each had two hits and two RBIs.  One of Keeran’s blasts was a double.

The win gave Clear Lake a one game lead over Humboldt in the NCC

CL 10,  Lake Mills 0 (5)

The Lions were sharp in every facet of the game on their way to a five-inning, 10-run shutout win for the second straight night.  Jacob Peterson pitched the win.

“To call Jacob efficient tonight would be a dramatic understatement, as he managed to cut through their lineup in only 37 pitches in five innings of work,” said Coach Thompson. “He does a really nice job of attacking the strike zone as a pitcher and that allows his defense to stay in a rhythm and in the game and every time he pitches we see our defense make amazing plays behind him as a result.”

Peterson threw a one-hitter.  He struck out one and walked none.

The Lions led 4-0 after two innings and added five more runs in the fourth and one in the fifth to end the game.  They scored 10 runs on seven singles.  Keeran and Truesdell each had a pair of hits.

Dowling 5, CL 4 (9)

  On Friday, the Lions jumped out to a 3-0 lead but could not hold on and lost 5-4 in nine innings at Dowling. The game was the first for the Lions in the Brent Prange Classic played in the Des Moines metro area.

Keeran got his team on the board with a three-run home run in the first inning.  In the second, Truesdell reached base on a double and scored on a single by Brock Adams to make the score 4-1.  Dowling scored single runs in the first, second, fourth and fifth innings to tie the score.  With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Cooper Merrill walked a batter.  A ground ball up the middle put runners and first and second.  Truesdell fielded a ground ball to the left side, but was not able to get the runner at first. Meanwhile a pinch runner scored from second, giving Dowling the win.

“It is hard to think of a more daunting task as a team than to beat West Des Moines Dowling Catholic, a perennial 4A power and fifth rated team currently, on their home field, but we got the opportunity to do that and I thought our kids, despite the loss, showed a lot of heart to play toe-to-toe with one of the best 4A teams in the state on their home field.”

Ben Mason battled a potent offense very admirably for seven and one-third innings.  He allowed 10 hits, struck out three and walked five. Merrill gave up two hits and walked two.  He was tagged with the loss.

“Unfortunately the nine-inning contest came down to a couple breaks and we did not get them,” said Coach Thompson.

Marshalltown 5, CL 3

Clear Lake lost 5-3 to Marshalltown on Saturday in a game played at Saydel.  The Lions trailed 3-1 after four innings, but tied the score in the fifth with two runs.  Marshalltown plated runs in the sixth and seven for the win.

“We definitely did not play