Cougars Take One Out of Two From Rio Grande
(Chillicothe, OH)-- The Cleary Cougars baseball team made the trip to Chillicothe, Ohio to take on the Rio Grande Red Storm on Tuesday, and each team came away with a victory over two games.
In Game 1: The Red Storm put starting pitcher Garrett Larner and the Cougar defense under immediate pressure, as Cleary would surrender one run in the bottom of the 1st inning. Larner would settle down, as neither team would allow a run until Cleary broke through in the 5th inning. After Derek Zavala reached on a fielder's choice and then advanced to second on an error to get into scoring position, Ryan Kadoguchi singled to left field to score Zavala and tie the game at 1-1. In the bottom of the 6th, Rio Grande would retake the lead on a sacrifice fly to make the score 2-1. Cleary would tie the game in the top of the 7th at 2-2, when Derek Zavala scored with two outs on a Jeremy VanOosterum single to right field. In the bottom of the 7th, and with the bases loaded with two outs, Rio Grande would score the winning run on an error in the infield to end the game.
Garrett Larner pitched 6 innings, allowing 2 R (2 earned) on 5 hits, while striking out 8 and walking 2. Colin Brazil took the loss, pitching the final inning, and allowed 1 R (0 earned). Cleary was held to four hits in the game by four different players; Derek Zavala, Ryan Kadoguchi, Jeremy VanOosterum, and Colton Fountain. Zavala scored both runs, and Kadoguchi and VanOosterum each had one RBI.
In Game 2: After neither team was able to get a rally going, Cleary finally broke through in the top of the 5th inning. Billy Flohr hit a lead-off single (Zach Agemak would pinch-run). Agemak would advance to third after an error by Rio Grande's catcher, who threw the ball into right field to try and pick off Agemak. The next batter was Kendall Flaugher who hit a stand-up double off the left field wall to give Cleary a 1-0 lead. Kyle Miazgowicz would advance Flaugher to third base on a sacrifice bunt. Two batters later, Derek Zavala hit a single just short of the Red Storm centerfielder to score Flaugher and give the Cougars a 2-0 lead. That lead was all pitcher Travis Klocek needed, as he threw his third consecutive quality start.
In this game, he allowed 0 R on 3 hits, while striking out 3 and walking 1. Klocek is now 3-1 on the season. Ryan Kadoguchi and Kendall Flaugher each added 2 hits, while Derek Zavala, Anthony Lacle, and Billy Flohr each had one hit.
Cleary is now 9-8 on the season, and will make the trip to Midway College in Midway, Kentucky this Friday to take on the Eagles in a double-header. First pitch in game one is scheduled for 12:00 PM.
- Notes
- Cleary has three batters with at least a .350 batting average (at least 30 ABs). They are Ryan Kadoguchi (.400), Derek Zavala (.364), and Anthony Lacle (.353)
- Jeremy VanOosterum now has 16 RBI on the season through 17 games. That puts him in 4th place on Cleary's all time record with 58.
- Cleary has four batters with at least 10 RBI on the season. Jeremy VanOosterum (16), Ryan Kadoguchi (12), Spencer Jamieson (10), and Derek Zavala (10).
- Travis Klocek's three straight quality start and wins have dropped his ERA to 2.17. He has thrown two shutouts in those three games, including a no-hitter against Point Park on February 18.
