Wednesday, September 18, 2024
Greg Seubert Photo
By Greg Seubert
Clintonville’s baseball team split a pair of recent North Eastern Conference games with Luxemburg-Casco.
The Truckers fell to the Spartans 12-9 May 18 in Luxemburg, but picked up a 1-0 win May 16 in Clintonville.
The Truckers lost the lead late in a wild game impacted by high winds and cold temperatures.
Clintonville opened the game with seven runs in the top of the first inning, but the Spartans answered with five runs in the bottom half of the inning.
Each team had eight hits and each team committed seven errors.
“The playing conditions were brutal,” coach Ben Smejkal said. “Cold and 30-plus-mile-per-hour wind gusts made it difficult to pitch and field for both teams. Lux-Casco ultimately was able to make fewer mistakes and hang on to beat us under extreme conditions.”
Kaleb Rath started on the mound for Clintonville and allowed five runs on four hits in one inning of work. Blake Weatherwax and Kade Rosenow pitched three and two innings, respectively. Kolton Barkow also made an appearance, but couldn’t record an out.
“We had trouble finding the strike zone early and made a bunch of really stupid defensive plays,” Smejkal said. “I think the cold and wind froze our brains along with our muscles. We gave them a ton of second chances where there should have been outs.”
Weatherwax led the Truckers at the plate with three hits.
Greg Seubert Photo
Jack Yaeger held the Spartans to one hit to get the win on the mound.
He retired the first 13 batters he faced and finished the game with nine strikeouts.
Clintonville’s run came in the bottom of the third inning.
Rath, Gavin Christopherson and Andy Lederer had one hit for the Truckers.
Clintonville wrapped up the regular season May 22 with a rescheduled North Eastern game at Freedom and will open the WIAA state tournament with a home game.
The Truckers received a No. 4 seed in their Division 2 regional and will host No. 13 Marinette Thursday, May 25. If the Truckers win, they would host No. 5 Wrightstown or No. 12 Oconto Falls Tuesday, May 30, in a regional semifinal.
