Rebels Pick Up Win Behind Clough’s Superb Pitching Performance

Josh Cadwell for NSO

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Apr 23, 2012

Dwight Cadwell-NSO

MOOSE LAKE- Monday afternoon saw the Moose Lake-Willow River Rebels rebound from a loss last Thursday to Carlton, by defeating the Pine City Dragons by a score of 7-2 Monday afternoon. The Rebels capitalized on timely hitting and two three-run innings as the Rebels even their record on the season.

The Dragons got on the score board first in the second inning when Gabe Gonyea scored on a wild pitch to give the Dragons an early 1-0 lead. Gonyea had walked with one out in the second inning; he moved to second base on a single from Quinn Rarick, went to third on a walk to Sean Kehern and scored on a wild pitch from Spencer Clough.

The Rebels responded right back by scoring three runs in the bottom of the second inning. Alex Stephan singled to start the inning; Zack Paul laid down a nice sacrifice bunt and moved Stephan to second. Tyler Cisar then walked, both runners advanced on a passed ball and Stephan scored on the next pitch when a wild pitch which allowed the Rebels to tie the game at 1-1.

Cisar scored later in the second on a RBI single from Teddy Ryan and the third run came in when Ryan scored on a throwing error and it was a 3-1 lead after two innings. Alex Stephan walked with two outs in the third inning and advance to third on a single from Zach Paul, a bobbled ball in center field allowed Stephan to come across with the fourth Rebel run.

The Rebels added three more runs in the fifth inning as Darren Grutkowski started with the first of three straight hits to give the Rebels a 7-1 lead after 5 innings. Stephan collected his second hit and Paul delivered a huge hit driving in two runs. Derrard, a pinch runner for Paul later scored on an infield ground out from Cisar for the last run of the afternoon.

“We played very good today and it was nice to see the kids come up with timely hits; we also had great pitching again today.” Head Coach Lyle Halverson told Northland Sports Online. “Clough was a little shaky the first inning or so but he settled down really nice and we had a few kids step it up tonight.” Halverson added “Paul had some big clutch hits today and drove in runs which is what we have been missing.”

Spencer Clough picked up his second win of the season with the 7-2 victory. He gave up four hits, struck out five, and allowed only three walks on the afternoon. Clough retired 15 consecutive batters at one point from the second until the seventh inning when the Dragons added one more run to cut the final margin to five runs.

The Rebels improve to 2-2 on the season, and they will be in action again on Thursday when they travel to Crosby to take on the Rangers of Crosby-Ironton. The Dragons fall to 3-4 overall on the season and they are in action again on Thursday when they will face the Braham Bombers at Braham.

Dwight Cadwell can be reached at dwight@northlandsportsonline.com