By By STEVE FRANKLIN, Sports Writer
BEAR GRASS — Bear Grass came up with only one hit against Mattamuskeet starting pitcher Waylon Clarke on Tuesday afternoon.
However, the Bears still managed to beat the Lakers, 8-3.
The Bears took advantage of nine walks and five Lakers’ errors to manufacture runs and make up for their lack of success at the plate. They also stole a season-best nine bases.
Clarke was almost untouchable in the first three innings as he recorded eight of the first nine outs by strike out. But the Bears still managed to jump out to a 3-1 lead in that time span.
After Mattamuskeet scored a run in the top of the first on an RBI single by Lane Gibbs that scored Jonathan Gibbs, the Bears answered with two in the bottom half of the inning.
Seth Hines and Michael Greenhaw both earned free passes and stole their way to second and third base respectively, with one out. As Josh Greenhaw struck out for the second out of the inning, the ball trickled away from Lakers’ catcher J. C. Gibbs, allowing Both Hines and Michael Greenhaw to score to make it 2-1 in favor of the Bears.
Bear Grass added another run in the third as Hines was once again aggressive on the base paths. Hines drew a walk to lead off the inning and immediately stole second base. Moments later, he stole third base and came home to score as catcher J.C. Gibbs’ pick off attempt sailed into left field.
Mattamuskeet trimmed the deficit to 3-2 in the fourth as Lane Gibbs got on base with a single and came around to score on an RBI base hit by William Loftus.
Not to be out done, the Bears added a run of their own in the bottom of the fourth. After Justin Britt recorded Bear Grass’ only hit of the game with one-out in the inning, he came around to score on a throwing error by shortstop Robbie Loeber that would’ve ended the inning.
The Lakers made it a one-run game once again in the fifth inning. Michael Metcalf led off the inning with a single and later scored on a two-out RBI double by Loeber, making it 4-3.
The score remained that way until the bottom of the sixth when Clarke ran into control issues and his defense let him down.
The Bears blew things in the sixth inning without getting a hit. Bear Grass plated four runs in the bottom of the sixth after two Lakers errors, five walks and a hit batsman.
Clarke threw a complete game, while striking out 12 and allowing just one hit. But in the end, his nine walks came back to bite him.
Meanwhile, his counterpart, Bear Grass freshman C.J. Hardison turned in a terrific performance as well. The Bears starter went the distance for the first time in his career, allowing two earned runs on eight hits, while striking out four.
While the Bears struggled to get hits, the Lakers managed to put together eight base knocks. Clarke and Lane Gibbs led the way with two hits apiece.
Bear Grass will return to the diamond on Thursday when they travel to Jamesville to take on the Bullets, while Mattamuskeet will travel to Crestview that same evening.
Mattamuskeet 100 110 0 — 3 8 1
Bear Grass 201 104 X — 8 1 5
WP: C.J. Hardison; LP: Waylon Clarke
Hitters: M — Michael Metcalf 1-4 (RUN), Jonathan Gibbs 1-4 (RUN), Waylon Clarke 2-4, Robbie Loeber 1-4 (RBI), Lane Gibbs 2-3 (RUN), William Loftus 1-2 (RBI); BG — Justin Johnson 0-3 (RBI), Seth Hines 0-1 (3 SB, 2 RUNS), Michael Greenhaw 0-4 (RBI), C.J. Hardison 0-3 (RUN), Jake Stalls 0-3 (RUN), Justin Britt 1-2 (RUN), Foster Peeks 0-0 (RBI, RUN), Scott Hardey 0-0 (RUN).