Wheels: Active Clover baseball dispatches General McLane

The Clover baseball team took advantage of 11 walks and used aggressive base-running to defeat the General McLane (Pa.) Lancers 12-8 Friday at Northwestern.

With the win, the Blue Eagles moved to 2-1 in this year’s Wheels Invitational tournament. Clover also took advantage of eight wild pitches. The Blue Eagles runners didn’t hesitate to take the extra base given the slightest chance, even sprinting out of the box on the walks. Cole Hybarger had a steal of home in the second inning, sliding across the plate in time to get hit by the pitch before the Lancers knew what was happening.

“We’ve worked on that a couple times, but that’s the first time we’ve actually been able to do it,” Clover coach Hank Wofford said. “If we see a guy on the mound that’s a little slow to the plate, we’ll relay that in to the batter and make sure he knows it so he’s not swinging. It worked out for us in a great way to literally steal a run. We’re a talented group but we really focus on hustle and effort and attitude. We tell the guys once you leave the plate you’re a baserunner.”

Jimmy Marcelli had a great day, going 3-for-4 with a home run, a walk, and four RBIs. Marcelli also raced home on a ball four wild pitch that squirted to the Lancers’ on-deck circle on the third base side in the fifth inning.

The Blue Eagles started the scoring right away with three first-inning runs. They took advantage of three walks and a hit batter in the inning. Stanley Durkin had the big hit in the inning with an RBI-double down the third base line that scored Hybarger with the first run. Hybarger walked three times, and Durkin reached base all four at-bats.

General McLane got one back in the bottom half of the first but Clover added two more in the second when Hybarger stole home and Marcelli scored on a wild pitch.

After the Lancers cut it to 5-3, the Blue Eagles applied the stiff-arm with three in the fourth. Marcelli launched his two-run home run deep over the left field fence, and a walk and error allowed Durkin to come home again.

The Lancers pulled close again with four in the fourth. Jon Solberg, who was 3-for-4, had his second double to drive in a run, Evan Dillen had a two-RBI single and Paul Jones had a run-scoring base hit for his second RBI.

Two walks, three wild pitches, and an error helped Clover get all the insurance they would need in the fifth. Marcelli had another two-RBI base knock in the inning.

Noah Lindsay came in with two outs in the fourth and a runner at second to induce a popout to end the threat. He went the final 3 1/3 innings and allowed one run on three hits.

This story was originally published April 3, 2015 at 7:49 PM with the headline "Wheels: Active Clover baseball dispatches General McLane."