ROHNERT PARK — Tough work week? The Clear Lake High School varsity baseball team can sympathize after losing in walk-off fashion for the second time in four days, this time a 3-2 non-league decision to the Credo Gryphon on Friday night in Rohnert Park.
Coming on the heels of a 2-1 walk-off loss Tuesday night in Healdsburg, the Cardinals (1-5) went to the bottom of the seventh inning with a 2-1 lead against Credo and were just one out away from the victory with a Gryphon runner on first base when things took a wrong turn. A routine grounder to third base should have ended the game, but an errant throw to first base, made worse by a bad bounce, resulted in a game-tying three-base error that moved the potential winning run to third base.
“Just a bad throw, then a bad hop after it went over the first baseman’s head,” Clear Lake head coach Ed Pepper said.
Starting pitcher Maddox Albaum worked the count full to the next Credo batter before uncorking a wild pitch that ended the game, the winning run scoring after a close play at the plate.
“We just didn’t execute,” Pepper said of the error that was only one of two for the Cardinals, who played solid defense most of the way.
Clear Lake’s inability to hit with runners in scoring position also hurt the team again, according to Pepper. “Seems like I’m saying that every time.”
The Cardinals pounded out 10 hits but could scratch out onkly single runs in the first and fifth innings for a 2-1 lead. Credo’s first run crossed the plate in the bottom of the third.
“We hit the ball, but we left guys stranded when it counted,” Pepper said.
Clear Lake went up 1-0 in the top of the first on a Drake Smart single and stolen base and Jonathon Werner’s RBI double to left-center field. Albaum followed with a single that was briefly bobbled by the Credo center fielder, prompting Werner to make a dash for the plate where he was cut down.
“I said going into the game that we wanted to be aggressive on the bases and we were,” Pepper said.
With the score tied 1-1 going to the fifth, Smart again got things started for Clear Lake, this time with a single to right field. He advanced to second and then third on consecutive groundouts and scored on a wild pitch to give the Cardinals a 2-1 lead.
Albaum faced only 29 batters and ended up throwing 112 pitches, 67 of them for strikes. Had he retired his final batter in the bottom of the seventh to send the game into extra innings, he would have been forced from the game because of the pitch-count rule (110). He struck out nine and walked two.
“I really can’t ask for much more from my starting pitchers,” Pepper said of Albaum and Smart, who was the hard-luck loser Tuesday against Healdsburg. “We’re just making critical errors and not hitting when we need to. It’s nothing against the kids, they’re working hard and they’re trying.”
Smart went 3-for-4 for Clear Lake while Albaum and Justin Williams each went 2-for-3. Williams had a double. Werner, Ethan Maize and Hank Ollenberger also had hits.
Barring any last-minute additions to the Clear Lake schedule this season, the Cardinals are through with the non-league portion. They open North Central League I play Tuesday at home against Willits, then hit the road Friday to play Kelseyville. First pitch both days is 4 p.m.
“Hopefully we get it figured out and turn it around starting Tuesday,” Pepper said of the Cardinals’ league opener.
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April 04, 2021 at 01:38AM
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Cards lose another tough one, 3-2 - Lake County Record-Bee
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