Clovers move to 5-0 on season following win over Eagles

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

CLOVERDALE -- Tuesday's have been kind to the Cloverdale baseball team in the early part of the season.

After smacking 12 runs past Southmont a week ago, the Clovers pushed 10 more across the plate as the hosts knocked off South Putnam 10-0 in six innings.

Brian Dale pitched nearly flawlessly, no-hitting the Eagles while allowing a walk to opposing pitcher Nick Scott.

On offense, Cloverdale started the game off with a two run shot to left center field to open an early 2-0 lead for the hosts.

The Clovers loaded the bases in the second but couldn't convert with Dale at the plate.

Cody Carter knocked in William Whitinger in the fourth after Whitinger took two bases on passed balls. Carter scored later after Jordan Brinkman's pop-up was dropped in the outfield for a 4-0 lead.

The hosts again loaded the bases but failed to capitalize later in the inning after Will Anderson hit back to pitcher Scott to end the threat.

Cloverdale added to their total in the sixth inning through some fortunate circumstances. After getting men on second and third with one out, Trevor Lockwood struck out and Brinkman reached after his third strike was dropped, scoring Justin Wilson.

Dale then popped up in the infield but saw the ball drop on the dirt, scoring two runs in the process.

Mannan then singled in two more runs and took second on the relay throw. After two walks loaded the bases, Whitinger reached on an error to score the winning run.

Cloverdale head coach Brian Archer was quick to note Dale's accomplishment on the evening.

"Brian Dale did a great job of throwing strikes and mixing up his pitches. Getting ahead of hitters was a big key for him tonight, as well as getting the first hitter out and pitching with the lead," Archer said.

"We hit the ball decent tonight. Base running was done well tonight. We could have hit the ball better and we're going to work on that."

Archer elaborated, "There were two innings where we had the bases loaded and we couldn't get that big hit. That's what we're going to talk about at practice.

"In those situations, guys need to be looking for their pitch when their ahead. We'll talk about that and other situational issues."

South Putnam head coach Ryan Gilman said that the Clovers did what they needed to do.

"Dale had a great at bat. He fouled several pitches off. Nick did a good job of hitting his spots in that at-bat. In that situation, good hitting beat good pitching," Gilman said.

"They're a good team. They did a good job of putting the ball in play. We struggled a little bit but give them all the credit. They put together hits to manufacture runs and have a big inning."

Both teams travel this week. The Eagles will be looking for their first win of the season while Cloverdale will be looking to add to their 5-0 start to the season.

"We go to South Vermillion on Friday. We've got a couple of days of practice to work on getting some timing down on swings and making plays that we need to make. We need to work on fundamentals and the things we need to work on," Gilman said.

Archer added, "We're at Shakamak Thursday and at Eminence Friday. Shakamak has always been a quality program so we'll decide tomorrow what we're going to do as far as pitching, but we'll go there and try to keep doing at the mound, on defense and at the plate what we've been doing."

At Cloverdale

South Putnam 000 000 -- 0 0 4

Cloverdale 200 206 -- 10 4 0

WP -- Dale (2-0)

LP -- Scott (0-1)

HR -- Dale