At the beginning of the season there were a few goals established by the 13-year-old Clarkston Riverdawg baseball team. One of these goals was accomplished in style last week as the much improved squad posted a 9-7 victory over the always tough Rochester Rockies behind the strong pitching of Alex Topham (5-0-4).
The game was a seesaw battle, tied 2-2 after 3 innings. Chris Mocerino scored the game’s first run after his first inning triple on a sharp single off the bat of Kevin Killian, who went 3/4 on the day.
Both Mocerino and Killian are team leaders in batting average and slugging percentage.
In the third inning, Mocerino added an RBI with a single that scored Mitch Stefanski, who reached on a walk.
The Rockies scored four runs in the top of the fourth, but the Riverdawgs came roaring back with six runs of their own in the bottom half. Nick Heinrich had a key single with two outs that scored two and Dakota Bender also had an RBI single in the inning.
The rest of the way belonged to the pitchers. Topham was replaced by Matt Miller who proceeded to shut down the Rockies. Miller (3-3-1, 2.84 ERA) allowed only one run on four hits and had four strikeouts in three innings of work.
Solid defense by Greg Keller, Jordan Clark and Beau Freeman held the Rockies in check. In the bottom of the sixth, the Riverdawgs added an insurance run, as Stefanski scored on another Killian single. The key play of the inning was a beautiful sacrifice bunt by Hunter Preston to move Stefanski into scoring position.
‘We reached one of our goals,? Coach Chris Freeman said after the victory. ‘I’m really proud of this team.?
The 13-year-old Clarkston Riverdawgs (13-8 overall) are rising to the top of the North Oakland Baseball Federation league with an 8-4 record. They will conclude the season with a double header against the other Rochester club, the Braves, on July 6th at 6:00 p.m. at Borden Park in Rochester.