The Opole Bears rolled over the Clear Lake Lakers 14-1 in 8 innings on Sunday in Opole to eliminate the Lakers and advance to to face the Randall Cubs in another Region 9C elimination game on Friday night in Pierz at 8:30 pm.
The Bears scored 9 runs in the first 3 innings to assume control, then finished things off with a 5-run 8th.
The Bears scored 2 in the top of the 1st on a squeeze bunt by Luke Bieniek, scoring Brodi Huls and then Drew Lange, who had walked against Clear Lake starter John Brew, scored on a Lakers error to make it 2-0.
Tate Lange was on the mound for Opole and he was on point from the beginning. He retired 12 of the first 13 men he faced, allowing only a 2-out double to Blake Brown in the 2nd inning.
After their 2-run 1st inning, Opole added 3 more runs in the top of the 2nd, getting a single from Isaiah Folsom and a double from Tate Lange. Folsom was thrown out at 3rd on the Lange double, but Brodi Huls came up with a 2-out rbi single to drive in Tate Lange, then Drew Lange belted a 2-run Homer to left to put the Bears ahead 5-0.
Opole had an even bigger inning in the top of the 3rd when they scored 4 times. After John Brew walked both Chris Ebnet and Mavrick Novitski, the Lakers replace Brew with Jordan Golombiecki on the mound. Golombiecki struck out the first two men he faced, but then he hit Masyn Patrick to load the bases, then Brodi Huls slapped a single to left to drive in Ebnet and make it 6-0. Drew Lange then came up and cleared the bases with a 3-run double to give Opole a 9-0 lead before Luke Bieniek lined out to center to end the inning.
In the bottom of the 5th, it appeared that Clear Lake had something going when both Caleb Leintz and Blake Brown singled to open the inning, but a fould out to catcher Alex Lange, a great sliding catch by Drew Lange on foul pop up to 1st and a ground ball to 3rd baseman Mavrick Novitski ended the scoring chance for the Lakers.
Jordan Golombiecki had a good 6th and 7th on the mound for Clear Lake, allowing only a 2-out walk to Isaiah Folsom in the 7th.
In the top of the 8th, Opole tacked on 5 more runs to go up 14-0. It started with 3 straight singles from Masyn Patrick, Brodi Huls and Drew Lange, with the Huls single driving in Patrick. After a pop up to 1st, Alex Lange singled to left to load the bases. Chris Ebent then drove a double to the right-center gap, as Huls, Drew Lange and Alex Lange all raced home to make it 13-0. A Mavrick Novitski single moved Ebnet 3rd, then a pinch-hit rbi single by Dominic Hoikka drove in Ebnet to make it 14-0. The Bears scored 5 runs on 7 hits in the inning.
Clear Lake broke up the shutout in the bottom of the 8th against new Opole pitcher Will Eichten when Eichten struck out the first 2 hittersbut then walked Jake Oliver. After Oliver stole 2nd, an rbi single from Caden Johnson made it 14-1. Eickten then got Cooper Kosiba to ground out to 3rd baseman Mavrick Novitski to finish off the Bears 14-1 win.
With the loss, Clear Lake’s first season in the Victory League comes to a close.
Opole will now move on and take on the Randall Cubs on Friday night at 8:30 pm in Pierz in another Region 9C elimination game.
Opole 14 14 2 – 14 8 innings
Clear Lake 1 4 2 – 1
WP: Tate Lange 7.0 IP 0 runs 3 hits 5k 0bb
Will Eichten 1.0 IP 1 run 1 hit 2k 1bb
LP: John Brew 2.0+ IP 7 runs 5 hits 1k 5bb
Jordan Golombiecki 5.1 IP 7 runs 9 hits 3k 1bb 1hp
Cade Simones 0.2 IP 0 runs 0 hits 2k 0bb
Bears:
Masyn Patrick 2-4 hp, 2 sb, 2 runs
– Sam Butler 0-1
Brodi Huls 3-5 3 rbi, sb, 4 runs
Drew Lange 3-4 Hr, 2B, bb, 5 rbi, 3 runs
Luke Bieniek 0-3 sac, bb, sb, rbi
Alex Lange 1-5 run
Chris Ebnet 1-3 2B, 2bb, 3 rbi, 2 runs
– Jordan Schmitz
Mavrick Novitski 1-4 bb, run
Isaiah Folsom 1-3 bb
– Dominic Hoikka 1-1 rbi
Tate Lange 1-4 2B, run
– Max Posch 0-1
Lakers:
Jake Oliver 0-3 bb, sb, run
Caden Johnson 1-4 rbi
Cooper Kosiba 0-4
– John Brew
Matt Korte 0-3
Caleb Leintz 1-3
Blake Brown 2-3 2B
Cade Simones 0-2
– Owen Kolbinger 0-1
Quentin Dukowitz 0-2
– Matt Primus 0-1
Alex Schroeder 0-2
– Hayden Fassler 0-1