Clark flirts with perfection as Trojans shutout Bulldogs
After seeing Tuesday’s scheduled Region 6-A opener at No. 5-ranked Trion washed out, the No. 1-ranked Gordon Lee Trojans regrouped and got ready to host the Bulldogs on Thursday.
And Ethan Clark was more than ready.
The senior righthander put on a pitching clinic as he struck out 13 Trion hitters and faced the minimum in a one-hit, 3-0 victory.
Clark entered the top of the seventh with both a no-hitter and a perfect game intact, but Trion’s Evan Walker, who started opposite Clark on the mound, led off the inning with a soft flare to shallow leftcenter to break it all up.
Walker would take second on a wild pitch, but later got caught too far off the bag and ended up in a rundown before getting tagged for the first out of the inning. Clark then polished off his gem with a strikeout and a groundout to second.
“Ethan was rested up and dialed in,” Gordon Lee head coach Mike Dunfee said. “He wanted to go longer in his last outing, but we were trying to get him ready for Tuesday. The rain got us on that one, so he was really chomping at the bit to get out there tonight and you could really tell. Dylan (Minghini) did a great job behind the plate, calling the pitches and the defense made some plays to help him out.”
After leaving a runner at third base in the bottom of the third, Gordon Lee (5-2, 1-0) got all the runs they would need an inning later.
Clark led off the inning with a double and Chaney Rogers followed suit with an RBI-double to score courtesy runner Braxton Ledford. Minghini doubled to put two runners in scoring position and Rogers would scamper home a passed ball.
Noah Peterson nearly took a Walker offering out of the park before settling for a line drive, RBI-double off the fence in left-center to score courtesy runner Hunter Hodson with the third and final run of the night.
Gordon Lee had six hits, five of which went for extra bases, including Caleb Hopkins’ triple in the
sixth. Minghini also added a single and was the only Trojan with two hits.
Walker pitched solidly in the loss for the Bulldogs (3-1, 1-0). He threw five innings of five-hit ball, allowing three earned runs. He struck out six and did not walk a single batter.
Blaine Woody threw the sixth for Trion, allowing one hit, one walk and striking out one.
“If you want to have a chance to earn a region title and get one of those top seeds (for the state tournament) so you can play at home, you have to go out and try to win every game,” Dunfee added. “They are all big (games), but especially these region games.”
Heritage 2, Gordon Lee 1
A walk-off RBI-hit by Josh Gibson in the bottom of the seventh inning lifted the Generals to a win over the Trojans on Saturday at Chattanooga’s AT&T Field.
Heritage took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on a runscoring single by Cole Wilcox, but Gordon Lee tied it in the third as
a run came home on a groundout by Rogers.
The Trojans missed a golden chance to take the lead in the top of the seventh. After getting base runners at second and third with one out, the lead runner was thrown out at the plate following a ground ball to second. Heritage reliever Justin Morris then induced a flyball to get out of the inning.
Morris got the win, allowing one hit and
one walk in his one inning of work. Church started the game and pitched six strong innings, giving up one run on four hits with three strikeouts.
Austin Thompson started and went 4.1 innings for Gordon Lee, allowing a run on three hits and three walks with three strikeouts. Rogers went the rest of the way for the Trojans. He gave up an earned run on one hit
and a walk with three strikeouts and took the loss.
Kobie Cowan had three of Gordon Lee’s five hits.
Gordon Lee (5-3) will welcome Bowdon to Chickamauga on Tuesday for a 5:30 start in the 6-A contest. The Trojans will play at Ringgold on Wednesday (5:30) and the Trojans will make the return trip to Bowdon on Thursday (5:30).