Cougars Stay Hot With Sweep of UM-Dearborn

(Howell,MI)-- After dropping their first two conference games almost two weeks ago, the Cleary Cougars baseball team picked up their fourth consecutive conference win, and second sweep, with a pair of victories over the UM-Dearborn Wolverines Saturday afternoon at Lake Trust Stadium while hosting their first ever Autism Awareness Game.

In Game 1:  Cleary struck first with a run in the bottom of the 2nd inning.  After a leadoff strikeout, Kyle Miazgowicz tripled to left field, and Jesnel Soto brought him home on an RBI single to right to give the Cougars a 1-0 lead.  The Wolverines answered with a run of their own in the top of the 3rd to tie the game.  In the bottom of the 4th inning,  Billy Flohr got on to lead off the inning after he was hit by a pitch (Zach Agemak pinch ran).  Kyle Miazgowicz got on base via an error, and Jesnel Soto loaded the bases with a single to centerfield.  Nick Koan would score Agemak with an RBI fielder's choice, and Ryan Kadoguchi brought Miazgowicz home with an RBI fielder's choice to give the Cougars a 3-1 lead.  Things got a little more interesting in the top of the 6th, when UM-Dearborn scored after a one out triple, but Travis Klocek got out of the jam.  Klocek would get the final three outs in the 7th, and helped the Cougars earn the game one victory.  
Travis Klocek pitched 7 innings, allowing 2 runs on 4 hits, while striking out 5 to improve to 4-2 on the season.  Kyle Miazgowicz and Jesnel Soto each contributed 2 hits for Cleary.

In Game 2:  After UM-Dearborn scored a pair to open up the game in the top of the 1st, Cleary answered in the bottom half of the inning with a pair of runs of their own.  After Aaron Dyke and Derek Zavala got on base, Kendall Flaugher singled to left to score both runners.  In the bottom of the 3rd, Ryan Kadoguchi and Aaron Dyke led off the inning with back to back singles, and advanced to third base on a pitcher's balk.  Jeremy VanOosterum would score Kadoguchi with a sacrifice fly to left field to give Cleary a 3-2 lead.  Cleary would tack on three more runs in the 4th to take more control of the game.  After Kyle Miazgowicz and Jesnel Soto both reached base, Nick Koan singled to left to score Miazgowicz and make the game 4-2.  Ryan Kadoguchi would reach on a fielder's choice to bring up Aaron Dyke who doubled home both runners, giving the Cougars a 6-2 lead.  The Wolverines would score twice in the 6th to cut into the lead, but Cleary would respond in the bottom of the 7th.  Aaron Dyke got on with a single, and Derek Zavala followed that up with another single.  Jeremy VanOosterum would single right over the first baseman's glove to score Dyke and make the score 7-4.  A Kendall Flaugher suicide sqeeze would score Zavala and Cleary's final run of the game.
After loading the bases in the top of the 9th, Cleary would surrender one run, but Colin Brazil would finish the game without allowing any further damage, and the Cougars won 8-5.
Lucas Withers pitched 6 innings to improve to 2-1 on the season, allowing 4 runs on 8 hits, and striking 7.  Aaron Dyke went 3/4 with 2 R and 2 RBI, while Kendall Flaugher went 1/3 with 3 RBI.  Jeremy VanOosterum went 1/2 with 2 RBI to improve his team best total to 24 RBI on the season.

Cleary improves to 16-10 overall, 4-2 in the WHAC, and will be back at Lake Trust Stadium on Sunday, April 3 to host the Lawrence Tech Blue Devils in a double-header.  First pitch of game one is scheduled for 1:00 PM.