River Kings sweep home doubleheader

By Shannon Heaton

For the Herald

CLINTON — Justin Clark isn't sure if taking the pitcher's mound makes him a better hitter.

But it sure seemed that way Tuesday night at Alliant Energy Field. The Clinton junior busted out of a mini-slump at the plate at the same time he was called upon to start against Midland, going 3-for-3 with a pair of two-RBI hits as he and his River King teammates pounded the Eagles in five innings, 15-2.

“Any game I pitch in is going to be a challenge for me and I want to set myself up for challenges,” Clark said. “Maybe that's my helped me with my concentration (at the plate).”

Earlier in the evening, Clinton needed just one out in the bottom of the fourth before it scored six runs to end its nonconference matchup with Preston, 16-1.

“We kind of know who our conference rotations are...pitching and fielding and sometimes our (batting) order is set, too,” Clinton coach Trent Snowden said. “But in these types of games, we're looking to see what kids can do in the future.”

Against Preston, every River King who saw action in the game — no matter how small a presence they had — either scored a run, had a hit or drove in a run.

The fact that Clinton was able to get cracking offensively fairly quickly, putting together two hits and scoring a run in the first inning against Preston and then erupting for five runs on four hits in the first against Midland, was something that Snowden was happy to see.

“The nice thing was how we came right out and hit the ball, better than we have against some of our other nonconference opponents, where we've struggled. But tonight we hit the ball pretty hard all night,” he said. “It's definitely a positive that we were able to score a lot of runs pretty early.”

And with everyone in the lineup contributing — 11 River Kings scored, got hits or drove in runs against Midland — that might make Clinton even more dangerous as the calendar clicks over to July today.

“It just shows that we have more people that can help us when somebody in our starting rotation gets in trouble,” Clark said.

Against Preston, Jake Mangler was 3-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI while Shawn Winoski drove in three runs with a sacrifice fly in the third and two-run double in the fourth. Mangler and Austin Krick both scored three times against Midland, with Krick, Tyler Voss and Tyler Morehead all driving in a pair of runs.

On the mound, Jared Jones allowed just one run in three innings against Preston, while Steven Clark finished both contests, throwing a combined three innings of shutout ball.



Clinton 16, Preston 1 (4 inn.)

Preston 010 0 — 1 6 4

Clinton 118 6 — 16 13 2

Jason Feddersen, Lucas Assenmacher (4) and Assenmacher, Feddersen (4); Jared Jones, Steven Clark (4) and Shawn Winoski. Two or more hits — Clinton (Jake Mangler 3, Austin Krick 2). 2B — Preston (Austin Hughes); Clinton (Winoski, Krick). RBIs — Preston (Dave Jacobs); Clinton (Tyler Redman, Jared Voss, Winoski 3, Mangler, Krick, Blake Pennock 2, Brent Clausen, Jones, S. Clark, Adam Young).



Clinton 15, Midland 2 (5 inn.)

Midland 002 00 — 2 6 4

Clinton 534 3x — 15 11 2

Adam Lasack, Cody Dirks (2), Colby Harms (3), Alex Reid (4) and Cole Ackley; Justin Clark, Steven Clark (4) and Shawn Winoski. Two or more hits — Midland (Jarred Stepp 2); Clinton (Tyler Redman 2, J. Clark 3). 2B — Clinton (Austin Krick, Greg Young, Tyler Morehead, J. Clark 2). RBIs — Midland (Lasack, Ackley); Clinton (Jake Mangler, Krick 2, Tyler Voss 2, G. Young, Morehead 2, J. Clark 4).

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