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Griffons clock Clarinda en route to series sweep
The Nevada Griffons dealt the Clarinda A’s a three-game series sweep, outscoring the MINK League North division foe by 18 runs. The Griffons opened the series Saturday night in Iowa with a 13-9 victory, and followed up with 8-0 and 8-2 victories on Sunday and Monday respectively.
Coming off its three-game sweep of Clarinda, the Griffons, as part of its six-game road swing, returned to the diamond Wednesday to face the Sedalia Bombers. Nevada again came out on top, defeating Sedalia 8-4 to up their win streak to four games.
Upon opening the season with 10 consecutive losses, the Griffons have since gone 15-6. Nevada (15-16 overall, 15-14 MINK League) is currently 3.5 games back of the first-place Ozark Generals (16-8) in the MINK League South division.
Griffons 8, A’s 2
The Griffons opened Sunday evening’s contest with a pair of runs in the first, as Kainalu Pitoy’s RBI-single scored L.J. Hatch. The Griffons then went on top 2-0 as Pitoy scored from third on a Nathan Florez passed ball.
Florez was unable to escape a second-inning jam totally unscathed, issuing a two-out bases loaded walk to Nick Kreutzer — plating Oscar Larranaga as the Griffons led 3-0.
Meanwhile, Pitt State product Dante Richardson was on cruise control, as the Griffons starter mowed through Clarinda’s order, tossing five shutout innings.
Nevada’s offense backed up Richardson’s effort, as the Griffons added to their lead in the sixth when Pitoy scored courtesy of an A’s infield error. With a 4-0 advantage entering the bottom of the sixth, Richardson finally surrendered a run, as a two-out passed ball scored Victor Perez, trimming the Griffons lead to three runs.
Clarinda inched closer in the seventh, via Jordan Abushahla’s RBI-single off Griffons relief pitcher Cam Fowler, as the A’s trailed 4-2.
The Griffons proceeded to break open the game with a four-run eighth. Clarinda relief pitcher Elijah Greene found himself in major trouble, yielding a pair of walks and a single to open the inning, loading the bases for first baseman Ben Sneider. Sneider capitalized with a bases-clearing triple, handing the Griffons an 8-2 lead.
The six-run cushion was more than enough for Kory Haught, who shut the door on Clarinda with two scoreless frames, allowing just one hit while lowering his earned run average to 2.81. Richardson (1-2), who picked up his first victory of the season, scattered five hits, while striking out two and walking four over six innings of work. At the dish, Pitoy and Hatch collected multi-hit games, while Sneider finished 1-for-3 with three RBIs.
Griffons 8, A’s 0
The Griffons carried over their late-game offensive momentum from Sunday’s contest, plating six runs over the first two innings of Monday’s game.
The Griffons broke out the power bats, as third baseman Noah Menchaca clubbed a three-run blast in the first, followed by Nick Kreutzer’s three-run bomb in the second, as the Griffons lead swelled to 6-0. Menchaca, who leads the MINK League in home runs (7) and RBIs (30), continued to scald Clarinda’s pitching staff, as the Texas native collected a two-RBI single in the seventh, putting Nevada up 8-0.
The other major storyline was Nevada’s pitching, with starter Jake Faze and relief pitchers D.J. Alexander and Dave Ruot combining for a three-hit shutout. Fraze, who allowed two hits while striking out four and walking three over five innings of work, picked up the victory, improving to 2-1 on the season.
Alexander replaced Fraze in the sixth, tossing two perfect frames while striking out a batter. Ruot locked down the victory with a pair of clean innings, lowering his ERA to 1.80.
At the plate, Menchaca went 2-for-4 with five RBIs and a run scored, while Kreutzer concluded the evening 1-for-3 with three RBIs. Michael Pagano added two hits, as Rafael Villela Jr., Hatch and Cole Solomon scored two runs apiece.
Griffons 8, Bombers 4
The Griffons went on top 1-0 in the top of the second, as Kreutzer scored from third on an infield error charged to Bombers shortstop Harrison Schnurbush, his second of the inning.
Nevada upped its lead to 3-0 via Hatch’s third inning two-run blast off Bombers starter Zach Maskill. After firing three scoreless frames, Griffons starter Jacob Lewis allowed a fourth inning run, as a two-out Matthew Jones RBI-single trimmed the Griffons advantage to 3-1.
Nevada struck back in the fifth, courtesy of Kreutzer’s two-out RBI-single, scoring Hatch and Menchaca, putting the Griffons up 5-1. Ethan Owens sixth inning RBI-double sliced Nevada’s lead back to three runs.
Schnurbush’s woeful fielding night continued in the seventh, as his third error of the game allowed Menchaca to score from second, padding the Griffons lead, 6-2. Nevada added two in the eighth. The final run of the inning came on a Wesley Pyles wild pitch, scoring Villela Jr. from third, as Nevada led 8-2.
The Bombers bats came alive in the eighth, as a Trey Harris two-out, two-RBI single off Haught left Sedalia trailing 8-4. Ruot was then able to seal the deal, tossing a scoreless ninth.
For the Griffons, Lewis (2-2) picked up the victory, allowing an earned run while striking out four over five innings of work. Maskill (1-1) took the loss, allowing two earned over four frames.
At the plate, Kreutzer went 3-for-3 with four RBIs and a run-scored, while raising his batting average to .301.
Check a future edition to find out how Griffons players fared at Thursday’s MINK League All-Star Game in Chillicothe