Big innings lift Clyde baseball past Oak Harbor

CLYDE – In a game that stretched over three hours after the originally scheduled first pitch, two big innings propelled the Clyde baseball team.

The Fliers put up six runs in the third inning and eight more in the fifth inning to top Oak Harbor, 16-7, in Sandusky Bay Conference action.

"The bottom of our lineup really picked us up," Clyde coach George Parks said. "We had some big hits at the big times."

Clyde (7-4 overall, 1-1 SBC) trailed 6-0 going into the bottom of the third inning. Run-scoring doubles by Matt Baker and Nate Gittinger highlighted the inning. The Fliers were aided by errors, wild pitches and balks by the Rockets (1-8, 0-4).

"We fell apart at times," Oak Harbor coach Rob Schimmoeller said. "We could've added some more runs when we were up 6-0, but we made some mistakes."

Oak Harbor's problems continued in the fifth inning. After the Rockets took a 7-6 lead in the top half of the inning on an RBI triple by Caleb Turco, the Fliers chased Oak Harbor starting pitcher Garrett Harvey and sent 13 batters to the plate. Ryan Kelly doubled in Jacob Robinett, who led off the inning with a triple, to tie the game. Harvey walked Frank Sewell before exiting the game but two runs came in thanks to a pair of Oak Harbor errors. Run-scoring singles by Baker, Robbie Webb, Walker Cooper and Kelly broke open the game.

"All the guys were hustling out of the box to get extra bases," Parks said. "We put the ball in play and boy, Matt Baker is a gamer. He plays hard and he got out of there on the mound for us on relief and mixed it up."

The Fliers added two runs in the sixth inning on RBI doubles by Baker and Bailey Colson.

"We just didn't make enough plays," Schimmoeller said. "We jumped on them early and knocked their No. 1 pitcher out but we didn't have the killer instinct to finish it."

Baker pitched the final 4 ¹/₃ innings, allowing two hits while striking out three. John Jackson started, allowing six runs on four hits and four walks.