#10 Clark upsets #4 Stevens, joins three-way tie for first
By Mark Kusenberger
tsrnsports.com
Special to SAsports.com
Last year, the District 28-5A regular season ended with 5 teams finishing within one game of first place.
In 2008, as the sage Yogi Berra would say, it’s déjà vu all over again.
Matt Thrailkill drove in Kevin Hennessey for the go-ahead run in the top of the 8th inning to lead the Clark Cougars to a 4-3 victory over the Stevens Falcons in 8 innings Friday night at Northside Field #2.
The Thrailkill hit made a winner of Carl O’Neal (1-0) and placed Clark (15-5-1, 7-3 in 28-5A) in a three-way tie in the loss column for 1st place with O’Connor and Jay, both 8-3 in 28-5A. Stevens (14-7, 7-4 in district) is now tied with Marshall for 4th place, one full game behind O’Connor and Jay.
Clark took the early lead in the first after E.J. Salazar hit a one-out triple. After the second out, Joseph Ybarra hit a grounder which the second baseman misplayed, allowing Salazar to score for a 1-0 lead.
Stevens retaliated in the 3rd. Clark starter Vince Salazar, E.J.’s younger brother, plunked James Zule with one out on a 2-2 pitch. John Zule walked on five pitches, then Brian Thedford belted a 2-1 pitch past the right field for a game-tying double, scoring James Zule. Clark coach Aldo Velasquez elected to intentionally walk Matt Moreno load the bases, then Vince Salazar bounced a pitch past catcher Ybarra, allowing all runners to advance, including John Zule who scored to give Stevens a 2-1 lead. With the infield in and runners on second and third, Glenn Dyson hit a grounder to second; Jonathan Schneider through to the plate, and Ybarra tagged out Thedford trying to score for the second out. Jonathan Perez walked to load the bases again, but then Rene Solis gournded into a force play at second to end the 3rd with the Falcons ahead 2-1.
Stevens got a peculiar insurance run in the 4th. Ryan Culotta reached on a error by the shortstop, then was sacrificed to second by Aaron Aguilar. James Zule ground out to advance Culotta to third, then John Zule walked to put runners on first and third. Then Brian Thedford hit a high-popup to the right of the mound. The first baseman appeared to have the best play, but confusion in the Clark infield allowed the ball to drop, giving Thedford the cheapest RBI double he’ll ever get and scoring Culotta. With John Zule at third and Thedford at second, Matt Moreno drew another intentional walk to load them up again; this time Vince Salazar struck out Glenn Dyson to escape the threat trailing only 3-1.
After Stevens starting pitcher Matt Moreno retired 8 straight Cougars, Schneider drew a full-count wall. Tyler Rankin sacrificed for the second out, moving Schneider to second. Carlos “Chucko” Bernal singled up the middle to score Schneider, then went to second on the throw to the plate. E.J. Salazar single home Bernal to tie the game.
Each team had threats in the 6th and 7th but couldn’t capitalize. With one out in the 5th, Rene Solis was hit by an 0-2 pitch, then went to second on a walk to Culotta. Carl O’Neal came on to pitch for Clark, then struck out Aaron Aguilar swinging and James Zule looking to end that threat.
Trey Doebbler reached on a one-out error in the top of the sixth, was sacrificed to second by Jonathan Schneider, then went to third on a two-out infield single. Farina stole second, but he and Doebbler were stranded when Schneider hit into an inning-ending ground ball.
In the Stevens sixth, Matt Moreno drew a two-out walk and stole second, but was stranded when O’Neal struck out Dyson. In the top of the seventh, Tyler Rankin greeted new pitcher Rene Solis by launching a ball in right field for an easy single, but then was thrown out by Aguilar from right field trying to stretch it into a double. In the bottom of the seventh, Solis doubled to right field, but his courtesy runner was stranded when Culotta flied out to short left field, then Aguilar struck out.
Kevin Hennessey led off the sixth by fouling off 4 full-count pitches before drawing a leadoff walk. Ybarra singled him to third, then his courtesy runner Cori Grohman stole second without a throw while the Stevens infield fell asleep. Doebbler was intentionally walked to load the bases with nobody out, but Thrailkill’s single scored Hennessey to give Stevens a 4-3 lead. With the bases loaded with none out, Solis pitched out of further damage by striking out Farina and Schneider, then getting Ranking to ground to third.
In the bottom of the 8th, Brian Thedford drew a two-out walk to make it interesting, but O’Neal rang up his seventh strikeout by retiring Matt Moreno to seal his first win as a varsity player.
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