Cloverdale shuts down Eminence for 2nd win

Saturday, April 9, 2011

CLOVERDALE -- Cloverdale's baseball team shook off a Thursday defeat to Shakamak Friday night by beating Eminence 8-2.

Having given up 33 runs over a three day period, the Clovers were able to handle the Eel attack behind the arm of sophomore Will Andersen, who scattered three hits and two earned runs over seven innings.

The hosts got the ball rolling in the second inning when shortstop Frankie Skiles hit a double, followed by walks to Austin Mannan and William Whitinger. Jordan Hayden singled to drive in Skiles to give the Clovers a 1-0 lead.

After a strikeout, Ethan Atwood singled to drive in a second run. Brian Dale hit a shot to left field that fell for an error and drove in another Clover run. Josh Burdette cranked out another single to plate two more and extend the rally.

Skiles then collected an RBI with a single. Mannan walked before Whitinger just missed connecting on a deep shot for the final out of the inning, one that the Clovers left with a 6-0 lead.

That was more than enough run support for Andersen, who would give up runs in the fourth and seventh innings but not be threatened until the end of the contest. Cloverdale added runs from Skiles and Shawn Shipp in the fifth and sixth to aid Andersen's cause.

Andersen was forced to work in the seventh. A walk to start off the inning, a hit batsmen and two errors allowed the Eels to plate a runner and have men on second and third before a weak grounder to the Clover pitcher ended the game.

After four games back-to-back and a staggering 74 runs were scored, Cloverdale head coach Bryan Archer was happy to see some smaller numbers appear on the scoreboard.

"I would say today, overall with pitching and defense, was the best game we had all week. We talked before the game today about putting together full innings. Smart and aggressive hitting, tough defense, smart defense and good pitching. Tonight we had that," Archer said.

"Will [Andersen] did a great job of throwing strikes, mixing up his pitches and spotting the ball where he wanted to. He did a really nice job and the best thing was our defense made plays behind him."

While the defense was more stout, the offense continued to pound away, collecting 39 runs in the four days.

"When we're having smart at-bats, not chasing anything, but hitting smart, that's when we have our big innings. We're preaching to our guys this year to be smart, but aggressive, at the plate. When you get your pitch, go after it, no hesitation," Archer said.

"When we get our big innings, you'll notice that that's our players' approach. When we put it together, we can just flat out hit the ball."

Coming off of four consecutive games this week, the Clovers play four more games next week, starting with WCC foe Monrovia. Archer said the Clovers would need to continue playing like they did Friday night.

"We know Monrovia's tough. They've got good pitching. They've got a few guys that can really hit the ball so for us it's going to be continuing what we did defensively tonight and continue to be smart and aggressive at the plate, and carry that into Monday and Tuesday night."

At Cloverdale

Eminence 000 100 1 -- 2 3 3

Cloverdale 060 011 X -- 8 9 2

WP -- Andersen (1-0)

LP -- Ridgeu

Next Game -- Cloverdale (2-3, 1-1 WCC) hosts Monrovia Monday at 5 p.m.