Summoning the resiliency of a rubber bouncy ball, Clarkston swept a doubleheader Wednesday with Waterford Kettering 8-5 and 11-4. The wins came on the heels of a loss to rival Lake Orion May 21 and a 15-5 loss against Farmington one day later.
The double win should encourage Clarkston as they open playoff action this week.
‘It feels good to be winning. At times we played good baseball (and) at times we did not. The bottom line is, though, that we’ve played games this year where we played well and we lost,? Clarkston coach Phil Price said.
‘It’s nice even if we didn’t play well to get two wins. It sets a tone for districts.?
The district, which Clarkston hosts, includes Kettering, Waterford Mott, Auburn Hills Avondale, Pontiac Northern and Pontiac Central. The Wolves have now posted wins over each team in the group except Pontiac Central, who they have not played.
Clarkston was set to begin district play Tuesday. With a first-round win, the Wolves would advance to play Friday in the next round.
‘We know in our mind that we can beat anybody in our district. It’s just a matter of whether we beat ourselves,? Price said.
‘Right now, our kids are a little mentally fried, it’s the end of the school year and the seniors are graduating.
‘I told the kids from here on out, there’s no reason we can’t compete with anybody.?
Clarkston (12-16) also has a regular-season makeup game against West Bloomfield Thursday.
Kettering (9-17) struck first in game one when Nick Bohon’s sacrifice fly put them ahead 1-0 in the first. Clarkston’s Eric Ogg took a leadoff walk and stole second and third bases before being driven home with a sacrifice fly from Josh Hall. Nick Shamoun made the game 3-1 with a two-run home run to right field.
The Captains used a four-run sixth inning to creep back in the game, but to no avail.
Hall struck out eight hitters and allowed five hits in five-and-a-third innings of work.
Clarkston blew open a 4-4 tie in second game during a seven-run sixth inning.
‘We were a little disappointed, we came out and we had a chance to win both games. We had one bad inning in each game that cost us,? Kettering coach Mike Malley said.
‘We made some defensive miscues and had trouble bouncing back from that.?
The Captains are set to play Avondale in the first round of the district playoffs this week and could meet Clarkston again in a later round.
‘We saw today they’re a team we can play with if we come and play our ‘A? game and play defense and get a good pitching performance. (Then) we have a shot at them,? Malley said.
Ogg finished with three hits on the day, two walks and he scored five runs for Clarkston. Hall was 2/5 hitting and had four RBIs. Shamoun had two hits and three RBIs.