Dragons earn two much needed wins
The Clinton High School Dragons Baseball went 2-3 last week, as the Dragons picked up wins over Northwestern (PA) and Oneida.
The Dragons’ level of play was rather inconsistent throughout the month of March, and last week’s contests showed that.
Clinton faced Halls to start the week and failed to muster any sort of offense. Over the two-day, two-game, home-and-home series, the Dragons failed to score in either contest.
However, Clinton was able to bounce back last Thursday and Friday to pick up a pair of much needed wins.
Against Northwestern (PA), the Dragons’ offense found some momentum early, and jumped out to an 8-0 lead, after three innings. However, Northwestern would counter with a six-run top half of the forth.
Clinton added a run in the bottom of the fourth and maintained a 9-6 advantage heading into the seventh. The Northwestern rally caps were out, and they worked, as Northwestern came from three runs down to take a 10-9 lead.
Trailing by one, in the bottom of the seventh, the Dragons needed instant offensive productivity—and they got it.
After a walk and an error, the Dragons had Blake Lowe on second and Byrd on first, with Lockard coming to the plate. The first offering to Lockard resulted in a passed ball, and both Clinton baserunners advanced 90 feet. With the tying run on third, Lockard would do his job—sac-fly to center, which brought in Lowe, and moved Byrd to third.
With the winning run 90 feet away—the Northwestern pitcher took matters into his own hands. The unlucky fellow would hand Clinton a walk-off win, by walking a Dragon batter, and hitting two others with pitches.
Byrd trots to the plate, Clinton walks off with an 11-10 win.
The next day, against Oneida, the Dragons trailed 4-3 heading into the fifth inning. In the bottom half of the inning, Clinton unloaded for a barrage of seven runs. With a 10-4 lead, the Dragons headed into the sixth inning—where Clinton poured on five more runs.
The Dragons run-ruled Oneida, as Clinton earned a 15-4 win.
Unfortunately, the following day, the Dragons wrapped up the week and month of March, with a 10-0 loss to Cherokee. Clinton (6-9, 0-6) is winless in District 3-AAA play, which is an obvious concern. However, the 2019 season is still young—April is packed full of ballgames, and improvement is inevitable.