By John Raffel
Correspondent
CLARE — Coach Dave Gould’s baseball team swept Gladwin 13-6 and 7-0 at home on Thursday.
Clare got on the board in the bottom of the first inning after Chase Randall hits a sacrifice fly, and Keagan Hill singled, each scoring one run. Gladwin took the lead, 4-2 in the top of the fourth thanks to singles by Ritchie and Mieske. Clare flipped the game on its head in the bottom of the fifth, scoring five runs on five hits to take a 7-5 lead. The biggest blow in the inning was a single by Arthur that drove in two runs. Clare scored five runs on two hits in the bottom of the sixth inning. Tustin Yarger doubled, scoring three runs, and Miles Haggart grounded out scoring two runs.
Keaga Hill earned the win for Clare, coming in for relief forn Haggart. He allowed three hits and two runs, one earned, over three and two thirds innings, striking out three and walking one. Haggart led things off on the bump for Clare, giving up five hits, six walks, and four runs.
Clare piled up 11 hits in the game. Yarger led the team with three runs batted in from the number eight spot in the lineup. The right fielder went 2-of-4 on the day. Hill went 3-4 at the plate to lead the team with hits. Randall collected two hits in two at bats. Ryan Louch had three walks. Overall, the team had patience at the plate, collecting six walks for the game. Clare was sure handed in the field and didn’t commit a single error.
“It was another good win for us,” Gould said. “We hit the ball well, collecting 11 hits in the game. Hill went 3-4, Randall was 2-2 with a big solo home run.Yarger, Bryant, and Louch each had hits as well. We put two runs up in the first and had a few scoreless innings until the fifth and sixth, when our bats came back to life. Miles started the game for us, going 3 2/3 innings, walking six and striking out four. Hill came in for Haggart and did a nice job on the mound. He gave up three hits, one earned run, struck out 3 and walked one. Hill has been hitting the ball well thepast few games and it was nice to see him have control of the mound as well. We make some nice defensive plays to help our pitchers out.”
In the 7-0 win, Clare scored 6 runs in the first inning, which helped them defeat Gladwin 7-0. Ryan Louch singled, scoring one run, Keagan Hill hit a sacrifice fly, scoring one run, Shane Warner singled, scoring one run, an error scored two runs, and Carter Smedley singled, scoring one run. Clare added one run in the second. Warner hit a sacrifice fly, making the score 7-0.
Jayden Arthur earned the win for Clare. The right-hander gave up five hits and zero runs over seven innings, striking out six and walking one.
Clare piled up nine hits in the game. Smedley and Haggart each collected two hits for Clare. Warner went 1-2 at the plate and led the team with two RBIs. Arthur led the team with three walks.
“Overall, the team had a strong eye at the plate, piling up seven walks for the game,” Gould said. “We had a great first inning at the plate, putting up six runs. We added one in the second to take the lead 7-0. We had opportunities throughout the game to put more runs on the board, but left 9 on base. Haggart went 2-3, Smedley was 2-4 and Arthur, Hill, Louch, Randall, and Warner each had a hit in the game.
“Arthur did a great job on the mound, giving up five hits, no runs, walking only one and striking out six in the seven inning, complete game. A great day for us, getting two more conference wins. The team played well. We hit the ball and did a good job on the bump. Gladwin always plays us well, but we ended up with two nice wins.”
