Miller, Potent Offense Spark Clarion to 12-2 Victory Over Clarion-Limestone

SHIPPENVILLE, Pa. (EYT/D9) — Behind a strong pitching effort by Tanner Miller and a potent offense, the Clarion Bobcats rolled to a 12-2 six inning victory over Clarion-Limestone on Monday afternoon at Clarion County Park.

Miller worked 5 1/3 innings allowing two runs, one earned on eight hits. He walked one and struck out six. Derek Smail worked 2/3 of an inning with one strikeout.

(Pictured above, Clarion’s Noah Harrison waits for a pitch during the Bobcats win over Clarion-Limestone/photo by Diane Lutz)

“Tanner did a really nice job today on the mound,” said Clarion head coach Rob Jewett. “He was mixing his pitches well and our defense played fairly solid behind him. He was at 80 pitches when we took him out. We have four games this week so we wanted him to be available on Saturday and we didn’t want him to overuse his arm.”

Offensively for the Bobcats all nine starting batters collected at least one hit. Noah Harrison and Wyatt Watterson each collected two hits with Harrison driving in three runs. Dawson Smail, Devon Lauer, Derek Smail, Matt Alston, Miller, Dauntae Girvan, and Hayden Weber each added one hit. Lauer drove in a pair of runs with a home run and a sacrifice fly. Dawson Smail, Alston, Girvan, Watterson, and Weber each collected RBIs. Dawson Smail and Weber each had a double.

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

Braden Murray and Jesse Siwiecki collected four of the Lions eight hits with two each. Siwiecki hit a double and also drove in a run. Tommy Smith, Jordan Hesdon, Nick Aaron, and Jake Smith each added one hit. Tommy Smith hit a double and drove in a run for C-L.

Logan Lutz suffered the loss, allowing seven runs, six earned on six hits in four innings pitched. He walked five and struck out one.

“Logan was throwing the ball well early in the game and kept us in it,” said C-L head coach Bill Smith. “We just weren’t able to get the big hit once again. We had been doing better at that in our recent games but not today. You have to give credit to Miller for that too as he was keeping us off balance and we weren’t able to make solid contact with a lot of the balls we put in play.”

Lauer hit a solo home run in the first to give Clarion a 1-0 lead. The Bobcats added a run in the second as Weber hit a double to drive in Watterson who had walked for a 2-0 lead.

C-L loaded the bases in the top half of the second, but was unable to score.

Clarion broke the game open with five runs in the fourth inning. Dawson Smail, Lauer, and Harrison drove in the four runs with Smail drawing a bases loaded walk, Lauer a sacrifice fly, and Harrison a two-run single.

In the top of the fifth the Lions got their first run with Siwiecki hitting a double to lead off the inning. He later scored on an RBI ground out by Tommy Smith to cut the lead to 7-1.

C-L added their second run in the top of the sixth as Jake Smith singled. Courtesy runner Riley Rinker moved to second on a wild pitch. Braden Murray singled to move Rinker to third. Rinker then scored on an RBI ground out by Siwiecki.

Clarion then scored five times in the bottom of the sixth to finish off the game via the 10-run rule with the 12-2 victory.

Harrison, Alston, Girvan, and Watterson each had RBIs in the inning.

“These kids are a joy to coach as they all get along well and they all root for each other,” said Jewett. “We have a pretty tough lineup and when they are all hitting and we are getting the kind of pitching we’ve been getting we’re a pretty tough team to beat.”

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