Clarion Baseball Blanks Union 11-0 In Five Innings (05/02/2018)
(By CSZ Sports Writer Kenn Staub) Clarion’s Cam Craig, Skyler Pastor, and Lake Staub combined to shut out Union on two hits, while the Bobcat offense rapped out six hits and took ten walks in an 11-0 victory over the Golden Knights in Rimersburg on Thursday, April 26.
Drew Whren had a double and two RBI against Union.
Clarion didn’t waste time getting on the board, touching up Union starter Isaac Yoder for four runs in the first inning. With one out, Yoder issued consecutive walks to Craig and Sterling Conner. Skylar Rhoades followed with a single to right, plating Craig and moving Conner to third. Yoder walked the next batter, Cole Slaugenhaup, setting the stage for a two RBI double by Drew Whren, a hit that scored Conner and Rhoades and advanced Slaugenhaup to third. Slaugenhaup scored on a passed ball, giving the Bobcats a 4-0 lead, before Yoder could retire Clarion’s seventh and eighth batters.
Yoder led off the bottom of the first for the Golden Knights with an “excuse me” single to center. Craig, Clarion’s starter, induced the next Union hitter to ground to short, where Spencer Miller started a 6-4-3 double play that cleared the bases. The inning ended on a fly out to right.
The Bobcats’ offense continued to hum in the second. Miller was the beneficiary of a four pitch, one out walk and then stole second. Craig singled to center, a hit which saw Miller hustle into third. Yoder juiced the bases for the second consecutive inning when he hit Conner. He responded by issuing free passes to the next two Clarion hitters, Rhoades and Slaugenhaup, a lapse in control which saw Miller and Craig pushed across the plate to give the Bobcats a 6-0 lead. At this point, the Union manager Angelo Salvo made a pitching change, bringing in Lucas Bowser. Bowser got the second out of the inning, the product of an infield fly rule pop-out, but with bases still loaded, a passed ball allowed Conner to scoot home, setting the score at 7-0 before the final out was made.
Union threatened in their half of the frame. Lucas Bowser walked to lead off the inning and, with two outs, trotted into second when Clayton Marsh was awarded first owing to an apparent catcher’s interference. Craig let his defense get him out of the jam, as second baseman Cal German recorded the final out for Clarion on a grounder to second.
Skylar Rhoades takes a lead off second. Rhoades went 3-3 against Union and drove in five runs.
Clarion added to their lead in the top of the third. Miller hit a one out single to the left side and took second on an errant throw to first. Craig then walked for the second time in three innings. Miller and Craig scored when Rhoades blasted a two out triple over the leaping right fielder, staking the Bobcats to a 9-0 lead.
The Golden Knights once again threatened in the bottom of the third. Yoder stroked his second hit of the afternoon, a one out double to center field. Reice Saylor walked before the next hitter ground into a fielder’s choice, a play that would see Yoder forced out at third, but Saylor get the bag on an infield error. Saylor was left stranded at third as the fifth Union hitter ground out to second.
Neither team would score in the fourth. Though Luke Bowser, on in relief for Union, would see Clarion’s lead-off batter reach first, the result of a dropped third strike, his defense came through and did not allow anything by them. Likewise, Pastor, called upon by Clarion manager Rob Jewett to relieve Craig, kept Union off the board, striking out three after walking the Golden Knight’s first batter.
Cam Craig trots to first. He had a single and was walked three times.
The Bobcats put the game into mercy rule territory during the top of the fifth. Craig walked with one out and stole second while Conner was in the process of also being walked. Rhoades drove in Craig with a liner to second, a knock in which Conner proceeded to second. Conner and Rhoades each moved up one on a passed ball, with Conner scoring the Bobcats final run of the game on a two out wild pitch, making the score 11-0.
Jewett turned the mound over to Staub in the fifth. Staub, a sophomore seeing the mound for the first time at the varsity level, retired Union on eight pitches, all strikes, to close out the game.
Yoder got Union’s only two hits of the game, a single and double. He also took the loss for the Golden Knights, surrendering seven earned runs in one and a third innings of work. He struck out one. Lucas Bowser followed Yoder on the mound, giving up two earned runs. Luke Bowser pitched the final two stanzas for Union, giving up an earned run and striking out two.
Cam Craig, Skyler Pastor, and Lake Staub combined to pitch a two hit, five inning shut out against Union.
Rhoades went 3-3 for Clarion, hitting two singles and a triple. He drove in five of the Bobcats’ eleven runs. Whren doubled and had two RBI. Miller and Craig each hit singles. Slaugenhaup and Datko were credited with an RBI apiece. Craig pitched the first three inning for Clarion, striking out one on his way to earning the win. Pastor pitched the fourth inning, striking out three, with Staub taking over in the fifth, fanning one.
(photographs by Christie Datko)