Sudden Death Walk-Off Followed By One Hitter Leads to a Split Thursday

Jonathan Timm

Muskegon, MI: Marsh Field was able to finish two games and a split day between the Muskegon Clippers (9-15) and the Lima Locos (16-7) on Thursday, July 3rd. 8-7 was the final in Game 1 in favor of the Clippers and the Locos went home happy with a 4-1 win to finish the day. 

Wednesday’s game resumed in the bottom of the eighth to start the day with the Clippers coming from behind to win in sudden death fashion. Ethan Delgado hit an RBI-double in the bottom of the ninth to send the game into a tenth inning with the score 7-7. 

After a stalemate extra frame, the Clippers won the coin toss and elected to bat with a runner at first in the sudden death half inning. Ben Meyers advanced to second after Casey Joppie took a second pitch to the helmet in as many plate appearances. Taylor Head, who tied the game in the ninth on Tuesday was able to poke a single to right center which allowed Meyers to score and win the game 8-7.

Alex Hardacre got his third win of the season on the mound after his scoreless tenth inning in relief. Trevor Raade had a solid outing on Wednesday going 2.2 scoreless innings with four punch outs. 

The Clippers were able to combat the 16 hits from Lima in the Wednesday game alone. Jackson Isaacs had two RBI’s to match Delgado’s stat line. Additional run support included an RBI walk from Davis Weeks. Braden Graves had two hits, including an RBI-single in the first. 

Joe Chrapliwy entered the game late, but went 3-3 with two stolen bases. Delgado had three additional stolen bases. 

The Clippers lost the lead after a four-run first inning, and after a Charlie Verycusse 2-RBI single in the top of the eighth, but patiently fought back throughout the 20 hour span.

The Locos pitching staff walked 12 Clippers and hit two, and collected ten Clipper base hits. 

Celebration would not last long, as the two squads took the field after the brief resumption of play. The Clipper bats struggled, with the lone hit of Loco pitcher Nick Kolze coming from Nolan Zajac and his RBI-single in the second.

That was enough to tie the game, but the Locos shut down Muskegon from that point on. Lima inched their way forward with a run in the fourth, fifth and seventh. The Clippers used three arms in the seven inning game amidst the 4-1 loss.

It took Kolze 90 pitches to complete the game for the Locos while only allowing one hit, three walks and five strikeouts. 

The Clips will look to bounce back against the Michigan Monarchs in a two and one series on July 4-6 with Games 1 & 2 taking place at Marsh Field.