Steady Play Helps Clippers in First Win of Season

Jonathan Timm

Hillsdale, MI: The Muskegon Clippers (1-4) put themselves in the win column on Tuesday after beating the Michigan Monarchs (4-1) by a score of 6-3 at Lenda and Glenda Stadium in Hillsdale, MI. 

The win snaps a Clipper six game losing, dating back to the championship series against the Hamilton Joes last summer.

Nine hits are a new season high for the Clippers, who entered the game with just 12 through four games played. They also went five strong on the mound, with the combination of Ty Randal, Alex Hardacre, Reid Leonard, Connor Freeman and Lukas Brewer. 

In the top of the second inning, the Clippers put together a rally of singles from Jack Bakus, Taylor Head and Luck Noack to make it 1-0 Muskegon. 

A more prominent third inning tacked on three more runs for the Clippers, courtesy of Bakus driving in Nolan Zajac on an RBI double, a Head triple which scored Bakus and an RBI ground out from Jackson Isaacs to bump Head up the final 90 feet to make it 4-0 Clippers.

All this while Randal had a four inning start allowing three hits, two earned runs and striking out a pair while not allowing a walk. 

After Monarchs starter Austin Fisher’s three inning outing was complete, Andrew George stepped in and gave Clippers trouble tentatively while his offense made it a 4-3 ball game in the middle innings. George would ultimately strike out nine Clippers in his total 3.2 innings of work.

The boys of Muskegon summer would not be denied from George in the 7th inning, after walks were drawn by Zajac, Bakus and Noack to load the bases. With two outs and looking for his first hit of the season, nine-hole hitter Casey Barnes clocked a two-RBI ground rule double to the opposite field and gave the Clippers extra breathing room for the final two innings. 

“It feels good, it’s been a really long stretch. Not a lot of hits and we need to get it going for the pitchers, so it was good to get out of that [slump],” Barnes said following the game. “I was trying to jump on the first pitch, and he gave me a fastball outside so I took it that way”

Third year Clipper Lukas Brewer slammed the door on the Monarchs and earned the winning and saving pitcher honors. Brewer ended with no walks or earned runs while allowing just one hit and recording one strikeout. 

The Clippers ended the day with 12 walks at the plate.

Bakus and Head both ended the day with a 2-4 performance at the plate, while the remaining hits came from Holden Baker, Ben Meyers, Cole Leclair, Barnes and Noack.

The Clippers will take on the Monarchs in a rubber game Thursday in Hillsdale with Clippers Live starting at 6:35 and a 7:05 first pitch time. Meridix Live Sports will be the new site for our audio streams.