Dragons exit district tournament
Clinton senior Trey Herrell on the mound at Karns
After a scoreless first inning for both teams, Nick Miles drew a leadoff walk for Karns. Aaron Tye then singled, sending Miles to third. Tye took second base on defensive indifference. Miles then scored on a sacrifice fly by Zach Knott to make it 1-0 in favor of the Beavers.
After Brian Bell lined out to shortstop Shea Harber, Jonathan Nelson bunted for a hit, moving Tye to third. Nelson then took second on defensive indifference. Ryder Green then doubled to center to score both base runners and make it a 3-0 game.
Tyler Hartless followed with a double to center of his own to score Green and make it 4-0 before a fly ball ended the inning.
Winston Henderson led-off the third inning for the Dragons with a base hit. With two outs, he stole second and Clinton had a legitimate scoring threat. Isaiah Murphy hit one right on the screws and looked to have a hit but instead lined out to second to end the threat.
With two outs in the bottom of the third, Karns loaded the bases on a single, a hit batsman, and a single. Another base hit scored two runs to runs. A double then emptied the bases to make it 8-0 in favor of the home team.
The Dragons went down in order in the top of the fifth.
In the bottom of the fifth, Tye reached on a leadoff single and Knott doubled. After a groundout, Nelson drilled a single to center to score both runners and end the game in five innings.
The Dragon’s offense consisted of the base hit by Henderson in the third inning as Karns starter Trevor Adams was absolutely dominant in the win. He pitched all five innings and allowed just the one run and struck out eight.
Burton took the loss. He pitched two innings and allowed four runs on five hits.
Trey Herrell pitched the final three innings in relief.
It was the final game in a Clinton uniform for both pitchers as they closed out tremendous high school careers.
The Dragons also said goodbye to seniors Tyler Davis, Shea Harber, Isaiah Murphy, Austin Kelly, Winston Henderson, and Jon Webb.
It was a bitter end to a bright season, which saw Clinton win 16 games and finish in the top four of the district in the regular season.