Clarion-Limestone’s Tommy Smith Fires Five Inning No-Hitter as Lions Cruise

KNOX, Pa. (EYT/D9) — Tommy Smith pitched a five inning no-hitter against Keystone on Thursday afternoon as the Clarion-Limestone baseball team defeated the Panthers, 11-0.

(Pictured above, Clarion-Limestone’s Tommy Smith pitches to Keystone’s Drew Keth during Smith’s five inning no-hitter on Thursday afternoon/photo by Dave Cyphert of ProPoint Media Photography)

Smith faced the minimum number of batters in the five innings, allowing just the one walk to Drew Keth in the fourth inning.

Keth was immediately erased on a double play.

Smith retired the first two batters on ground balls before striking out the next seven batters prior to the walk. He struck out 11 in the game, including the last four of the contest.

“Everything was working today,” Smith said. “I didn’t really think about the no-hitter as I just go out there and pitch and trust the guys behind me playing defense.”

Clarion-Limestone Area High School sports coverage on Explore and D9Sports.com is brought to you by Redbank Chevrolet and DuBrook.

While Smith was shutting down the Keystone offense, his teammates were providing plenty of offense for his own cause.

C-L (10-5 overall) scored two runs each in the first four innings before scoring three times in the fifth inning.

C-L pounded out 12 hits with four going for extra bases. Jordan Hesdon collected three hits, one a triple, with two RBIs. Logan Lutz, Braden Murray, and Kohen Kemmer each added two hits. Lutz and Murray each hit a double while Kemmer hit a triple. Lutz and Kemmer each drove in two runs with Murray knocking in one.

Jake Smith, Jack Craig, and Jesse Siwiecki each added one hit with Siwecki also driving in a run.

“We hit some gap shots today and for the most part we ran the bases well,” said C-L head coach Bill Smith. “We took the extra base when we needed to. We did have a couple miscues on the bases we need to fix, but overall, it was a nice solid win.”

Hesdon singled, stole second and scored on a single by Lutz. After Lutz moved to third on a ground out by Tommy Smith and a strikeout, Kohen Kemmer hit an RBI single for a 2-0 lead.

Jesse Siwiecki drew a two out walk in the second and scored on a triple by Hesdon. Lutz then followed with a double to drive in Hesdon for a 4-0 lead.

Murray doubled and scored on a triple by Kemmer in the third. Nick Aaron then drove in Kemmer on a ground out for a 6-0 lead through three.

Siwiecki singled to start the fourth but was tagged out trying to stretch it into a double. After a pop out, Lutz was hit by a pitch. He stole second and scored on a pair of wild pitches. Tommy Smith walked and moved to second on a wild pitch before scoring on a single by Murray for an 8-0 lead through four.

Siwecki hit an RBI ground out in the fifth with Hesdon hitting an RBI single and another run scoring on a wild pitch for the 11-0 score.

“It’s always nice when your teammates give you a lot of runs, which helps me to relax a bit and just go out and pitch,” said Tommy Smith.

C-L has one game remaining, an away contest against Redbank Valley next Wednesday.

“It’s a conference game and Redbank has a really good team,” said C-L coach Bill Smith. “Hopefully we can get the hitting we had today and the pitching, but it will definitely be a challenge for us.”

Clarion-Limestone Area High School sports coverage on Explore and D9Sports.com is brought to you by Redbank Chevrolet and DuBrook.