LumberKings rebound with lopsided win behind Kasparek

By Jon Gremmels

Herald Sports Editor

CLINTON — Kenn Kasparek says there’s a reason he’s having so much success on the pitchers mound: It’s the quality bullpen sessions he is having between starts.

Kasparek continued his successful season as a starter for the Clinton LumberKings on Thursday night as he won his third consecutive start with an 11-3 victory against South Bend in Midwest League baseball at Alliant Energy Field.

“I think getting more consistent in my bullpens between starts has helped me go longer,” Kasparek (7-5) said. “When you have a game plan of what you want to work on before your bullpens, it helps. I’ve been doing that better.”

Kasparek said two areas he has worked on are keeping his fastball down and developing a circle changeup. The statistics would suggest he’s accomplishing what he wants to do.

The 6-foot-8, 200-pound right-hander left with a 7-0 lead Thursday in his third-longest stint of the season — 6 2/3 innings. Although both the runners who reached base off him in the seventh scored after he left — Matt Renfree surrendered three successive RBI singles — Kasparek still limited the Silver Hawks to two runs on three hits, while striking out seven batters and walking one. It was the 11th time in his past 12 games that he allowed two runs or fewer. He has lowered his earned-run average from 12.79 after two games to 2.49 after 19.

“It was a tremendous outing for him, and we really needed it (after a 10-2 loss to South Bend on Wednesday),” Clinton manager Scott Steinmann said. “He’s getting better and better and putting up solid outing after solid outing.”

Clinton catcher Travis Howell said: “The big thing for him is getting the feel for his secondary pitches. He has the ability to throw a couple of pitches for strikes.”

Howell said that didn’t make a difference in how he called a game for Kasparek, “it’s just the execution; by getting ahead he can expand the (strike) zone and the batters become more defensive.”

Kasparek, Seattle’s 12th-round draft pick out of the University of Texas in 2008, said the circle change was becoming an effective pitch.

“This is my second season throwing it,” he said. “I used it a couple of times tonight, and it came in handy.”

Kasparek was quick to add, though, that getting 11 runs of offensive support never hurt a pitcher.

Just about everyone got into the act on offense, too. Eight of the nine starters had at least one hit, six had two or more and Howell, Daniel Carroll and Kyle Seager hit home runs as the LumberKings tied their season high with three in a game. Seager’s three-run home run — an eighth-inning drive over the Lumber Lounge beyond the right-field fence — was his first as a professional.

“Everybody swung it well tonight,” said Carroll, who made it back-to-back home runs when he followed Howell with his first of the season in Clinton’s five-run sixth inning.

Howell was one of the hitting stars for the LumberKings. He picked up the first hit of the game — driving a 1-2 pitch from South Bend starter Randy Rodriguez (3-8) into the gap in right-center field for a leadoff double in the bottom of the third inning.

“I kind of went up with a simple approach, and that’s been a key for me,” Howell (2-for-4) said. “With two strikes, he left a pitch over the plate. It was not really a good two-strike pitch. It was nice to get that hit and get things going.”

Howell scored on Jake Shaffer’s one-out single to center field. After stealing second base, Shaffer made it a 2-0 lead when he scored on Scott Savastano’s bloop single to right-center.

Clinton finished off Rodriguez in a five-run sixth inning. Nate Tenbrink and Denny Almonte (2-for-5) started the inning with singles. Luis Nunez drove in Tenbrink with a one-out single to center field, and Almonte also scored on the play when first baseman Nelson Gomez cut off the throw to home plate and made a wild throw to first base after Nunez made a wide turn. Howell then hit the next pitch over the left-field fence for his seventh home run of the season. Carroll followed with another first-pitch home run, and Rodriguez was headed to the bench.

“Maybe this is the turning point,” Carroll said of the win that improved Clinton’s second-half record to 11-15. “(But) we’ve had two games like this where the next day we didn’t do very well.”

The LumberKings will try to win their second consecutive series tonight when they face South Bend in a 7 o’clock game at Alliant Energy Field. A limited number of Ian Kinsler bobbleheads will be given away.



LUMBERKINGS 11, SILVER HAWKS 3

South Bend Clinton

ab r h bi ab r h bi

Navarro ss 4 0 0 0 Shaffer lf 5 2 2 1

Marte lf 3 0 0 0 Seager 3b 5 1 2 3

Pollock cf 4 0 1 0 Savastano ss 4 0 1 1

Krauss dh 4 1 1 0 Tenbrink 1b 5 1 1 0

Gomez 1b 4 0 0 0 Almonte rf 5 1 2 0

Ramirez 3b 4 1 2 0 Dotel dh 4 1 0 0

Diaz rf 4 1 2 1 Nunez 2b 4 1 3 2

Van Winkle c 4 0 1 1 Howell c 4 2 2 2

Estevez 2b 2 0 1 1 Carroll rf 4 2 2 1

Totals 33 3 8 3 Totals 40 11 15 10

South Bend 000 000 300 — 3 8 2

Clinton 002 005 13x — 11 15 0

E — Gomez (14), Estevez (11). LOB — South Bend 5; Clinton 6. 2B — Howell (9), Nunez (12). HR — Howell (7), Carroll (1), Seager (1). SB — Dotel (2), Shaffer (4). GIDP — Van Winkle.

IP H R ER BB SO

South Bend

Rodriguez (L, 3-8) 51⁄3 10 7 7 1 0

Vasquez 22⁄3 5 4 3 0 1

Clinton

Kasparek (W, 7-5) 62⁄3 3 2 2 1 7

Renfree 1⁄3 3 1 1 0 0

Hann 1 0 0 0 0 1

Nation 1 2 0 0 0 0

HBP — Estevez. U — Taro Hamano (hp); Tyler Wilson (b). T — 2:36. Att. — 1,828.

Text Only