CL baseball team opens season with 1-2 mark

(Above) Clear Lake’s Nathan Tofte connects during the New Hampton game on Wednesday, May 23.  New Hampton won the contest, 8-4.  -Reporter photo by Chris Barragy

The Clear Lake baseball team dipped its toe into the first week of the 2018 season last week with a limited line-up due to post-season golf and soccer.  Still, the Lions opened with a win against Charles City.  Losses to top ranked (1A) Newman Catholic and New Hampton left the team 1-2.

“I thought our kids battled hard in a first week when we are short handed.  We are excited next week to be able to run out our full junior varsity and varsity squads,” said Coach Seth Thompson.

 CL 5, Charles City 4

The Lions opened the season at Charles City Monday, May 21, and behind the pitching of senior Ben Finn, posted a 5-4 win.

“Charles City is always a tough place to get a win, so it was really nice to get a win on opening night and be able to execute well in some tough spots in what was a close game from start to finish,” said Coach Thompson.

The Comets held a 1-0 lead through three innings, but the Lions erupted for three runs in the top of the fourth to take the lead.  Charles City evened the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the fourth, but the Lions took the lead for good with two runs in the fifth. The Comets tried to rally, but were held to one run in the sixth and were shut down in the seventh.

“I thought Ben pitched well and we picked up a few key hits to get enough runs for the win,” said the coach.  The biggest hit was probably came off the bat of senior Nathan Tofte, with two outs in the fifth to score the Lions’ fourth and fifth runs.  Finn also helped his cause with two hits.  His fifth inning double scored two runs.

The Lions scored their runs on four hits and two walks issued by Comet pitchers.

Finn gave up three runs on five hits.  He walked four.  Zach Lester was brought in to relieve in the sixth and gave up one run, one hit and one walk.

Newman 11, CL 0 (5)

Top ranked Newman Catholic used their ace, Caden Kratz, to dominate the Lions, 11-0 in five innings Tuesday, May 22.

“We got to see Newman’s best pitcher and he was just a little too much for us to handle in week one of the season,” said Coach Thompson.  “It is tough to face such a tough pitcher in week one because you are still typically trying to get your timing down against live game pitching as a hitter.”

Erik McHenry and Austin Warnke were the only Lions to get hits in the game.  Nathan Tofte, Chase Stuver and Ben Finn reached on walks.

“Our pitching and defense kept them from scoring in every inning except one, but unfortunately in that (third) inning things kind of snowballed on us and they ended up with 11 runs,” said Thompson.

Tofte took the loss on the mound.  He threw four innings, giving up 11 runs on nine hits and three walks.  He struck out three.

New Hampton 8, CL 4

The Lions took some positive steps on offense, but their defense was lacking in an 8-4 defeat at the hands of New Hampton Wednesday, May 23.

“New Hampton has been one of the better teams in Class 2A over the last few years. Unfortunately we did not play good enough defense to give ourselves a chance against a good team like New Hampton,” said Coach Thompson.

A highlight of the game was freshman Andrew Formanek’s first varsity hit go over the fence for a big three-run home run.  Formanek had two hits in the game, three RBI and a stolen base.

Zach Lester, AJ Stevenson and Mitchell Raber each had hits. Raber earned an RBI with his double.

Mac Adams took the loss, throwing five and one-third innings and giving up eight runs on nine hits.  He struck out six and walked three.  Zach Lester pitched one and two-thirds inning and gave up one hit and struck out two.

“Both pitched well and gave their team a chance to win,” said Thompson.