SHIPPENVILLE, Pa. (D9Sports) – First-year Clarion-Limestone manager called it one of the bigger wins the Lions have had in a while, after visiting C-L knocked off rival Clarion, 5-3, in the District 9 Class 1A quarterfinals at the Clarion County Park Wednesday.
(Photo of C-L’s Hayden Callen. Photo by Jared Bakaysa of JB Graphics. See more of Bakaysa’s work here)
“That is one of the biggest wins in a few years for C-L baseball,” Smith said. “I’m really proud of them. It’s a team effort. We did the little things tonight that we needed to do to win the game. Our bottom of the lineup was big. That is where we scored most of our runs.”
C-L took advantage of a couple of breaks to build a 4-0 lead after three innings scoring two runs in the second thanks to a ball that hit the first-base bag, and two more in the third thanks to a Clarion error and a suicide squeeze bunt.
“Some things went our way,” Smith said. “We needed some things to go our way. Clarion is a really good ball team. Their top four hitters are really good players. We needed some things to go our way to win today.”
The 4-0 lead was plenty for freshman Hayden Callen, who threw a gem going 6 ⅔ innings allowing three runs, two earned, on six hits and three walks while striking out five before coming out when he reached the 100-pitch mark. Curveen Goheen came on and got the final out to earn the save on a strikeout.
“Hayden was pitching good early in the season, and then he hurt his shoulder diving back into first base against North Clarion,” Smith said. “Since then, he hadn’t been the same. But he had an entire week off, and he was healthy. That made a big difference.”
Smith said Callen was able to mix and locate his pitches well against the Bobcats, who went to the PIAA title game a year ago.
“He throws hard,” Smith said. “He was able to locate his pitched, and he had a nice little curve.”
Smith also praised Callen for keeping the Clarion running game in check.
“What he did exceptionally well today was holding runners on,” Smith said. “They didn’t have any steals. We started Ian Hawthorn at catcher, and he threw a runner out trying to steal, and Hayden picked off Spencer Miller at first. After that, they didn’t run. Along with how well he pitched, I thought we did a nice job of holding guys on.”
The Lions grabbed the early lead in the second when Drew Beichner walked with one out against Clarion starter and loser Skylar Rhoades and Callen followed with a single to center.
After Rhoades struck out David Wiles looking, Cole Grenci hit a ball that hit the first base bag and caromed away allowing both runners to score and Grenci to go to second.
Some more luck fell C-L’s way in the two-run third.
Hawthorn led off the inning with a ground ball that first base Drew Whren couldn’t field allowing Hawthorn to reach first safely.
Camden Hankey followed by drawing a five-pitch walk, and after Christian Smith struck out looking, Goheen drove home Hawthorn with a single making it 3-0 with Hankey going to third on the play.
That brought up Beichner, and C-L decided to put on the squeeze play, which worked to perfection with Clarion’s only option being to throw to first to get Beichner.
“Drew is a really good bunter,” Todd Smith said. “There was a timeout for a mound meeting and Drew came down to see me (in the third-base coaching box). I said, ‘hey, what do you think about squeezing?’ He was like, ‘yeah coach, let’s do it.’ I felt pretty good about it.”
Clarion got a run back in the bottom of the third with some two-out lightning and some poor defense by C-L.
Cal German singled to right and went to second on an error by the right fielder Wiles before scoring on an error by Hankey, the second baseman.
C-L got that run back in the sixth to make it 5-1 before Clarion rallied with two runs in the bottom of the sixth before a good defensive play by the Lions shut down any further damage.
Miller led off with a walk and scored on a double to center by Cam Craig. Craig then scored on a single to left by Sterling Conner, but Conner was gunned down going to second on a heads-up play by the Lions. Grenci (the left fielder) threw to Beichner playing third and Beichner threw to Hankey to get the out at second.
“That was a big play,” Smith said.
It became an even bigger play an out later when Cole Slaugenhaup singled to left and went to second on the throw.
But Slaugenhaup was the last Bobcat to reach, as Callen got Whren to fly out to end the inning and then got Cutter Boggess to fly out to start the seventh before striking out Lake Staub. Goheen then came in and struck out German to end the game.
“We kind of learned from the last time we played them,” Smith said. “It was a really good ball game. It was 1-0 for a long time. The guys knew they were capable of beating them. I thought that helped our confidence.”
C-L, the sixth seed, will take on second-seeded DuBois Central Catholic, a 4-0 winner over Cameron County, in the semifinals at 4:30 p.m. Thursday at Showers Field in DuBois.
The win guarantees the Lions at least two more games, as the loser of the semifinal contest will play in the consolation game with the winner playing in the championship game.
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