Tinker tosses no-no, Dragons win three straight
Ethan Tinker fired a no hitter for the Clinton Dragons in their 9-0 win over Gatlinburg-Pittman Monday night.
The win was game two of a double header at Jaycee Park.
Tinker pitched five innings and allowed no runs or hits, and struck out six. At the plate, he was 1-3 with two runs scored.
Clinton scored a lone run in each of the first three innings and then plated six runs in the fourth for the win.
Blake Lowe was 1-3 with a triple and four RBI while Garrett Lee went 2-3 with a double and two RBI.
Connor Moody, Eli Ellis, and Jackson Stiltner each had a hit in the win as well.
In the first game, Clinton won 12-1 and started a night of strong starting pitching.
The Dragons took a 3-0 lead in the first when Moody drew a one-out walk and stole second. Lowe then singled to move Moody to third. Raley then walked to load the bases. Ellis then cleared the bases with a triple to give Clinton a 3-0 lead.
The Highlanders scored a run in the top of the second, but the Dragons answered with three more in the bottom of the second when Ethan Martell drew a one-out walk.
Martell stole second and Moody singled to advance him to third. Moody stole second and Martell raced home on the double steal. Moody then stole third. Lowe walked and stole second. The throw was errant and Moody came home and Lowe came all the way around to score the sixth run for Clinton.
In the third inning, the Dragons continued to put up crooked numbers. Harrison Shelton reached on a one-out single. Lee then reached after getting hit by a pitch.
Martell walked to load the bases and Tinker was hit by a pitch to score the runner from third. Moody then drew a bases-loaded walk to score another run. A throwing error by the shortstop did not allow Lowe to reach base, but allowed Tinker and Moody to score.
Leading 11-1, Clinton scored its final run of the game in the fourth when Ellis reached on a lead-off walk. He went to third on a single by Shelton and later scored on a base hit by Lee.
Shelton was dominant on the mound. He pitched all five innings and allowed one earned run on two hits with eight strikeouts and one walk. At the plate, he was 2-3.
“He has games where he’s extremely good and games where he’s still got a ways to go in learning how to pitch a quality game,” said Rob Stacy, head coach of the Dragons. “But that’s with him being a sophomore — a very, very talented sophomore. I look forward to him having big things in the future.”
Moody was 1-2 with an RBI, two walks, three runs scored, and two stolen bases.
Lowe was 1-2 with a walk, two runs scored, and a stolen base.
Ellis was 1-2 with a triple and three RBI, while Lee was 1-2 with an RBI.
In the nightcap, the Dragons won 9-0.
They scored one run in each of the first three innings and exploded for six runs in the bottom of the fourth.
Last Monday, the Clinton Dragons won on the road at Lakeway Christian Academy by a score of 5-1.
The game was a classic pitcher’s duel until the top of the sixth, when Lowe hit a three-run homer to give Clinton the lead. He extended the Dragons’ lead with a two-run single in the sixth.
Lowe got the win on the mound. He allowed no hits and one earned run over four innings and struck out nine. At the plate, he was 2-3 with a home run and five RBI.
“We actually faced their ace, a really, really good pitcher,” Stacy said. “That’s what we’ve been seeing a lot lately on these Mondays and Tuesdays. It’s going to help prepare for the district, so we’re all about that.”
Andrew Warshaw pitched three innings and allowed no earned runs with four strikeouts.
Ellis, Isaiah Slaven, and Sam Raley had one hit each.
Last Tuesday, the roles were reversed when LCA visited Clinton and won 13-5.
The Lions unloaded on the Dragons, scoring 11 runs in the first inning and adding run in the second to take a 12-0 lead.
Clinton scored one in the second, three in the third, and one in the fourth but that was as close as it could get.
“We were way more confident going there [to Lakeway Christian],” Stacy said. “When we came here, I think we were overconfident in our abilities. It was a quality team that we beat, which means a quality team can always beat you back. And that’s part of growing as a young team. You got to understand how to finish the series off instead of letting guys just kind of hang around.
“If we play a really quality team, our energy is exceptionally well the entire game. If we play a team we feel we should have one of our better games against, we kind of let them hang around, but again, that’s part of being young,” he said.
Shelton took the loss. He allowed eight earned runs on five hits with two walks.
Tinker pitched six and two-thirds innings of relief and allowed one earned run on four hits with one strikeout and one walk.
While the Dragons collected seven hits they also committed seven errors.
Raley finished 1-2 with two RBI while Dallas Beets was 1-4 with a double and two RBI.
Reece Wilkerson went 2-4 with an RBI while Lowe, Slaven, and Eli Ellis each had a hit.
Last Thursday, the Dragons dropped a road game to Campbell County by a score of 14-4.
Clinton scored two in the top of the first and added a run in the third to go ahead 3-0. That score held until the fourth inning when the Cougars scored six runs. The Dragons picked up a run in the top of the fifth to make it a 6-4 game, but Campbell County closed out the game with eight runs in the bottom of the inning.
“It’s another game on paper we probably should win but then again, baseball’s crazy like that,” Stacy said. “If you’ve got a team that keeps building confidence every inning against, it’s going to happen. We’ve got to finish guys early and often.”
Lowe pitched three-and-a-third innings. He allowed one earned run on six hits with two strikeouts with one walk. At the plate, he drove in three runs.
Shelton pitched one inning and allowed two earned runs on four hits with one strikeout and one walk.
Slaven pitched one inning and allowed five earned runs on two hits and three walks.
Moody went 2-2, as did Wilkerson. Tinker and Ellis each had a hit.
Clinton got back on track with a 16-1 win at Oliver Springs last Friday.
The Dragons scored a run in the second to take the lead, but then added five in the third and kept scoring, culminating in an eight-run sixth inning to end the game.
“The key was guys buying into driving the ball to the other gap,” Stacy said. “Their guy wasn’t overpowering, but he was hitting spots. We didn’t come in overconfident.”
Alex Gaetz got the win as he scattered four hits over six innings and allowed no earned runs while striking out seven and walking two. He was 1-2 with three RBI.
Offensively, Lowe had a monster game as he went 3-3 with a home run and four RBI.
Wilkerson was 2-4 with three RBI, and Moody went 3-4 with an RBI.
Raley was 2-3 with two RBI.
The Dragons return to action on Thursday when they play Maryville Christian to open the Clinch River Challenge at 5:30 p.m.