They’re going on all cylinders now.
The Clarkston varsity baseball team has rallied off win after win in recent weeks and most recently picked up another one May 22 with a dramatic 11-9 win over Anchor Bay at Clarkston High School. The win improved Clarkston’s record to 19-6 overall (at press time). The win took place at the first, in what should be an annual event for Clarkston, the Nathan Manuel Tournament. Manuel was Clarkston coach Phil Price’s brother-in-law and was a former baseball player for the Wolves. He graduated in 1996.
The Wolves won the game on a two-run homer by Sam Palace who had the winning hit with two outs against him in the bottom of the seventh inning. Mike Kittle went 4-for-4 on the day and Addison Turk was 3-for-4. Aaron Powell was 1-for-1 and drew three walks on the day. Pitcher Steve McIsaac pitched the game’s final two innings and had three strikeouts.
Previously, the Wolves won at West Bloomfield May 20 in an 18-3 mercy in six innings. Turk was 3-for-5 with a three-run homer and Nate Davis was 2-for-4 with three runs for the Wolves. Additionally, the Wolves picked up a tournament win last weekend, winning the Grand Blanc Tournament with wins over Millington and Grand Blanc by the combined score of 19-0, Price said.
The Wolves only loss in recent weeks (at press time) was a 2-0 loss to Farmington Harrison May 19. Clarkston’s second game against Troy, who is currently tied with the Wolves with an 8-2 OAA I record, was moved to May 25 and results were not available at press time.
‘The Harrison pitcher did a nice job against us,? Price said. ‘But our pitchers are doing a better job of not walking people and we continue to score a lot of runs. I’d say we’re averaging around nine per game. Steve Shiel is doing a nice job for us in left field and DH, but I’m still seeing too many lapses from our team in the field.?
Jim Coleman had 10 strikeouts for the Wolves in the loss to the Hawks.
Clarkston’s game, which was scheduled for May 21 against Rochester Adams, was cancelled due to rain. That game will be made up today. The Wolves host Rochester June 4 at 4:30 p.m. in a makeup game following districts. Districts begin June 1 at Clarkston High School with the Wolves hosting Pontiac Northern at 4 p.m. Should the Wolves advance, they’ll take on Pontiac Central June 3 at 3:30 p.m. The district final will be played later that day at 5:30 p.m. against the winner of the Waterford Mott and Waterford Kettering game. Both of those teams received first round byes. Price said his team is the heavy favorite heading into districts, with Waterford Mott possibly being the dark horse. Last year the Wolves won their district, but eventually fell to Brother Rice in the regional final, 8-3.