Lions win season opener

(Above) Clear Lake’s Carson Krefft slides into home plate for one of the Lion’s 15 runs.  -Reporter photo by Chris Barragy

by Marianne Gasaway

The only thing better than finally getting to start the season was the way the Clear Lake Lions did it Monday night.

Pitcher Eric Ritter struck out six straight batters in two innings of work and the Lion offense was relentless.  The Lions scored 15 runs on seven hits and posted a 15-0 victory over Iowa Falls-Alden.

AJ Feuerbach, who became the Lions head coach this season after assisting for four years, chose to sit Ritter down after a flawless two innings and save him for work later this week.  The Lions took on Dike-New Hartford last night, will travel to Humboldt tonight (Wednesday, June 17) and will play at New Hampton Thursday.

The Lions were swinging their bats from the start and scored five in the first inning, nine in the second, and the game winning run in the third.

Eric McHenry went three-for-three and scored two runs.  He reached base in the first, stole second and scored the Lions’ first run on a base hit two RBI by PJ Feuerbach.  Austin Warnke, who had been hit by a pitch, also crossed home plate. A hit by Caden Jones was followed by an IF-A error which scored Feuerbach and sent Jones to second.  Connor O’Tool’s single to centerfield scored Jones and put the Lions out front, 5-0.

Fourteen batters stepped to the plate for the Lions in the second inning and nine scored on three hits and an error.

Once again, Warnke started things off by reaching base on a walk.  A base hit by McHenry scored Warnke and a walk to Formanek prompted a pitching change.  The Lions were unphased by the change and loaded the bases with a walk issued to Feuerbach.  Jones earned an RBI the hard way, as McHenry scored when he was hit by a pitch.  Carson Krefft  and O’Tool both took RBI walks and Ritter tacked on the teams’ 10th run with a sacrifice fly.  A walk to Raber, followed by a McHenry hit which scored two and a single by Formanek made it 15-0 before a strikeout finally ended the inning.

Noah Mason stepped in to pitch the third inning and held IF-A in check to earn the three-inning win.

Dylan Madden took the loss for Iowa Falls-Alden. He lasted one inning, allowing zero hits and one run while striking out three.