LAKEPORT >> “We’re just taking them game by game,” said Clear Lake baseball coach Zane Jensen. “Right now we’re just thinking about Cloverdale.”
Winning coaches seemingly always talk that way, which usually works as a means of putting off the media in postgame interviews. Talking about the next opponent on the schedule followed Clear Lake’s 10-0 dissection of the Fort Bragg Timberwolves on Tuesday afternoon in Lakeport, a game that went five innings and one in which the Cardinals made look ridiculously easy.
The truth is that Clear Lake is taking games inning by inning. Preceding Tuesday’s nine-run, 13-batter fourth against the Timberwolves was a four-run seventh against St. Vincent that enabled the Cards to win a tournament title Saturday at Fort Bragg.
Those wins were the 13th and 14th straight in a so-far unbeaten season for Clear Lake. Tuesday’s victory boosted Clear Lake’s first-place standing to 5-0 in the North Central League I.
Fort Bragg is 3-9 overall and 2-3 in NCL I play.
The Cards struck with just about everything they could offensively throw at the ‘Wolves. It included a three-run home run by third baseman Matt Heller, a double steal in which Tyler Manning scored and a run-scoring triple by Jared Strate, the second triple of the game for Clear Lake.
Jake Egger, the second batter to the plate in the first inning, hit the other and scored the Cards’ first run on Cole Brodnansky’s ground ball to the Fort Bragg shortstop.
Then, the Cardinal bats were inexplicably quiet through the second and third innings.
“We figured it out in the fourth,” said Jensen. “We started to get our swinging more refined. Hopefully we can keep putting pressure on defenses like that.”
Clear Lake pitcher Dillon Williams, who doubled and scored in the fourth, faced only 13 batters to get the first 12 Fort Bragg outs. Then he was replaced by Tyler Krul, who struck out the side in the fifth to end the game. Curiously, Fort Bragg coach Jim Caito replaced his pitcher, Deven Morgan, to open the bottom of the fourth, even though Morgan had retired seven straight Cardinals.
Heller hit a drive that cleared the fence 325 feet away.
