Lions pound Mohawks in shut-out

The number one ranked Clear Lake baseball team (3A) notched four more wins before the July 4th holiday. The Lions started the week by notching a win over Mason City, then rattled off three North Central Conference wins. Coach Seth Thompson noted it was great to get wins against teams from Mason City, and any wins against 4A teams are huge for getting higher seeding in District play. The Lions were 26-2 on July 3.

CL 7, Mason City 0

 Brandon Tofte fired a six-hit shutout, helping Clear Lake beat Mason City 7-0 in a non-conference baseball game played Tuesday, July 1.
 “Our pitching and defense was about as good as we have seen it all year tonight, and offensively we put together a couple nice innings to get a big win against a local rival in Mason City,” said Coach Seth Thompson. “It was a charged atmosphere with a larger than normal crowd watching, and I thought our kids responded well with what might be their best all-around game of the year.”
 The coach was especially pleased with the performance of his pitcher. Tofte allowed just five hits in seven innings. He struck out four and walked one.
 “Brandon was amazing on the mound, both pitching the ball and fielding it when it came in his general direction,” he said.
 The score was a 0-0 in the fourth when Tofte retired the lead runner at third on a sacrifice bunt attempt. Then, with the bases loaded later in the inning, he fielded a strongly-hit grounder back toward the mound and got the lead runner out at the plate, following that up with a strikeout to end the inning and kept the game scoreless.
The Lions plated two runs in the bottom of the fourth with back-to-back RBI doubles by Mitch Keeran and Pete Swenson.
Clear Lake then took advantage of four Mohawk errors in the bottom of the sixth, scoring five runs.
Swenson led the Lions attack, going three-for-three at the plate with two runs batted in.
Rowdy Yates had a pair of hits and Keeran, Devin Uhlenhopp and Parker Truesdell each knocked one.

CL 16, St. Ed’s 0 (5)
The top ranked Lions were firing on all cylinders Wednesday. They man-handled St. Edmond’s 16-0 in five innings Wednesday in the first of two games on the day. The St. Ed’s contest was a make-up game from an earlier rain-out.
“It is hard to put together a more impressive game offensively than this one, which is especially impressive since we had to play it at an unusual time (1 p.m.) and at a very unusually cold temperature for July. Anytime you end up with 16 runs and the other team doesn’t make an error you know you probably hit the ball pretty well. We had not just hits, but extra base hits from up and down the lineup, and put together a pretty dominant performance against a team that is in the top half of our conference.”
The Lions wasted no time getting started on their scoring spree. They put seven runs on the board in the first inning and added five more in the second. One more run in the third and three in the fourth finished the Gaels off.
Devin Uhlenhopp was a one-man wrecking crew. The junior had four hits, including a pair of doubles, in four at-bats. He scored two runs and finished with three RBIs.
The Lions had six doubles in the win.
Pete Swenson, Jacob Hogan and Rowdy Yates had two hits apiece, each with a double. Yates’ efforts scored three runs for the Lions. Brandon Tofte also had a pair of hits which brought in four runs. Zach Tatum smacked a double in one of his two at-bats.
Sophomore Ben Mason was the winning pitcher. He gave up just two hits in three and two-thirds innings pitched. He struck out three and walked two. Brock Adams came in to get the final out. He struck out the final batter.

CL 3, Hampton-Dumont 0
Ten hits produced just three runs, but it was enough for the Lions. They remained perfect in the North Central Conference with a 3-0 victory over Hampton-Dumont Wednessday, July 2.
“For only scoring three runs, we actually hit the ball pretty well this game, but Hampton played very well defensively and we left more guys on base than we would like to see,” said Coach Thompson. “However our pitching and defense kept them off the board and anytime you can do that a little offense is enough. Brock (Adams) showed us the kind of competitor he is by shutting them down for six innings despite not being 100 percent, and Pete (Swenson) was fantastic in the last inning in relief, striking out the side for the save.”
Adams held the Bulldogs to just five hits in six innings pitched. He struck out six and walked two. Adams struck out three and gave up one hit.
The top of the Lions’ order produced the team’s 10 hits. Devin Uhlenhopp, Adams and Pete Swenson each had two hits, while lead-off hitter Zach Tatum had one. Mitch Keeran, Brandon Tofte and Jacob Hogan each had hits, with Tofte’s being a double.

CL 10, Clarion-Goldfield 4
A pair of homeruns propelled the Lions to a 10-4 victory over Clarion-Goldfield Thursday, July 3. Pete Swenson and Mitch Keeran each connected for homers to lead the Lions.
“It was nice to see us finally hit a few balls over the fence, with Pete hitting a first inning three-run home run and Mitch adding one a couple innings later,” said Coach Seth Thompson.
Swenson’s blast, one of his three