Lions keep rolling with five more wins

    Clear Lake baseball rolled through the competition this week, recording five quality wins.  The Lions, ranked seventh in Class 3A, are now 7-2 overall.  Tonight (Wednesday, June 6), the Lions will play a big conference game at home against St. Ed’s,  the defending North Central Conference champions, starting at 7:30 p.m.

CL 8, North Union 6
    The Lions, who have been building a successful program in recent years, posted a win over a school with a rich baseball tradition on Tuesday, May 29.  Clear Lake was an 8-6 winner over North Union (formerly called North Sentral Kossuth).

    “It is always nice to get wins on the road against teams like North Union.   We saw a good pitcher and I was happy to see us come out strong offensively,” said Coach Seth Thompson.
    The Lions put up five runs in the top of the first, highlighted by a three-run home run by Ozzie Adams that was close to 400 feet. 
    “Our defense faltered a bit in the middle innings, but I think that Jerry Kockler did a nice job keeping us in the game in his first varsity outing, and Gavin Sheakley came in to finish the game and ended up with the win after we scored two in the top of the seventh to pull ahead.  It is good for us to be in close games like this against good teams, and I thought our kids responded well under pressure to come away with the win.”
    Adams was the only Lion player with multiple hits.  In addition to his home run he stroked a double.  Zac Bendickson, Michael Keeran, Luke Schiller, Sheakley and Kockler all had singles.  Kockler had three RBI in the game, Sheakley had one and Tanner Truesdell picked up an RBI with a sacrifice fly. 
    Sheakley struck out five and gave up one hit in the win.

CL 7, H-D 0
    Ozzie Adams was practically a one-man wrecking crew, as the Lions shut out Hampton-Dumont 7-0 Wednesday, May 30.
    “Ozzie was as sharp in this game as I have ever seen him in his career pitching, striking out 16 while walking nobody and taking a no-hitter into the seventh inning,” said Coach Thompson.  “Our defense, I thought, started to play on our heels a bit, forgetting that once in a while Ozzie might let their hitters put the ball in play.”
    The Lions plated four runs in the third and added three more in the seventh for the win. 
    Jake Kockler had three hits and an RBI for the Lions.  Michael Keeran, Tanner Truesdell and Adams had two hits apiece, with Truesdell and Adams each connecting for triples.  Truesdell’s bat provided four RBI and Adams had two.
    
CL 9, Garrigan 2
    The Lions recorded a big win against one of the early front runners in the North Central Conference on Friday, June- Read More Via e-Edition