Clippers Capture Close Win in Hamilton  

Jonathan Timm

Hamilton, OH: The Friday, July 18th Foundation Field crowd held their breath as third baseman Casey Barnes threw out Christopher Roa’s ground ball with the bases loaded to end the game with a final score of 5-4. 

The Clippers needed every last run for their 19th win of the season, putting them a game above the .500 mark in their playoff pursuit. The Joes are now at an even 18-18 record.

Connor Freeman was the player of the game as he picked up his second win of the season. Allowing just one run during his six innings pitched, Freeman dealt four strikeouts with four walks and allowed just two hits. Matt Heflin threw 2.2 innings, and Ethan Bowen got the save.

At first the Clippers got by with trading outs for runs. Cole Mason had an RBI-groundout in the second inning to make it 1-0 Clippers. 

The big inning was in the third, where Parker Vaughn and Ben Meyers both had RBI sacrifice flies. Jack Bakus scored on a wild pitch to make it 4-1 Clippers. 

Leading 4-1 going into the ninth, a lead off double for Taylor head put him at a three-hit day. Two batters later, Vaughn singled into right field to put him at two RBIs in his Clipper debut and to make the score 5-1

Every run was needed for Muskegon. The Joes sent nine to the plate in the ninth, and the combination of Hefflin and Bowen was just enough to escape by a lone run for a second straight game. 

The Clippers had their five runs off ten hits, and no Joe errors. Hamilton had four runs off four hits and two Clipper errors.

Barnes had two hits and a walk, and Bakus had two doubles. Head had his three hits and scored twice. Isaacs and Vaughn had a hit a piece, and Meyers had one hit and one run. 

Clips return to action tomorrow for a double header and will look to take the series with first pitch at 4:05.