Tigers eliminated by Clarinda in baseball districts

 AVOCA — The Red Oak baseball season ended Saturday evening in Avoca when the Tigers lost 9-5 to the Clarinda Cardinals in the opening round of the 2A district baseball tournament.

Red Oak (5-20) found themselves trailing early on when they gave up five runs in the bottom of the second and one more in the third to fall behind 8-2.

“We were struggling to make plays, struggling to find the strike zone a little bit. Things unraveled a little bit on us,” Red Oak Head Coach Mark Erickson said. “We’ve had some of those innings, but I was proud of the guys. They came back and did a nice job. They didn’t give up. It could have gotten a lot worse, but it didn’t.”

Jesse Taylor put Red Oak on the board in the first inning with his hit that scored lead-off hitter Ryan Lundgren. Red Oak led 1-0. 

Lundgren, who was 2-for-4, started off the game with a double and was moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by catcher Colin Bruce.

The Cardinals responded in the bottom half of the inning with an RBI double by Austin Smith, followed by an RBI ground out by J.J. Clark to take a 2-1 lead.

Red Oak rallied in the top of the second when Connor Johnson knocked in Dean Smith on a base hit to tie the game 2-2. 

Clarinda loaded the bases in the second inning with one out. Dedrick Kettwick scored the go-ahead run on a passed ball to put the Cardinals up 3-2.

From there, Clarinda continued to score as Jesse Taylor stepped onto the mound in relief for starter Carlos Guerra.

The rally for Clarinda continued with a run in the third inning to make it 8-3.

“We were a little bit off. We usually count on [Carlos Guerra and Taylor] to throw strikes. For whatever reason, they couldn’t find the strike zone for a while there,” Erickson said. “They did come back and do a nice job later in the game. So I was proud of them.”

Red Oak didn’t score again until the top of the fifth when designated hitter Will West knocked in Lundgren on an RBI-single to cut the lead to 8-3. West was 1-for-3 in the game. They scored again in the top of the sixth when Taylor scored two runners on a double to cut the deficit to 8-5. Taylor was 2-for-4 in the game.

Red Oak allowed one more run in the bottom of the sixth as Clarinda kept the Tigers in check for the remainder of the game.

Opportunities were there for the Tigers as they left nine on base during the game.

“I think that’s kind of the story of our season there a little bit. We just kind of need one or two more hits there and we’ve been fine,” Erickson said. “We just needed to string a few more together.”

Johnson was 1-for-3, while Smith and Ryker Connell both went 1-for-4.

It was the final game for Red Oak senior outfielders Smith and Dylin Keat.

Smith has played most of his career in the outfield, including this season in center field. In addition to making highlight-reel catches in the outfield, Smith utilized his speed on the base paths, leading the team in steals with eight this season.

“Dean brings a lot of energy to the field every night,” Erickson said. “We’re going to really miss that out of him.”

Keat mostly played in the outfield, but also stepped in to pitch when the Tigers needed him. His lone win came during the Clarinda Academy game June 20 when they won 19-7.

“He’s shown a lot of leadership abilities at times and he made a lot of progress in that area, in terms of hustle this season,” Erickson said.

Despite the senior losses, there’s no shortage of returners for the Tigers next season. They’ll especially be set at pitching as Guerra and Taylor, as well as Carter Bruce and Isaac Bower, will be key returning pitchers.

“We’ve got a lot of options. We had some guys who were out this year who hadn’t been out for awhile and they made some progress,” Erickson said. “We’re looking forward to getting to work in the offseason.”

Erickson said the team needs to keep working hard daily and to get better every chance they get.

“We’re going to work in the fall, we’re going to work in the winter, we’re going to work in the spring,” he said.

Clarinda advances to play Treynor Tuesday at 5 p.m. in Avoca.

Red Oak vs. Creston

Red Oak played its last regular season game last Wednesday at home when they lost 10-4 to the Creston Panthers.

The Tigers kept close for most of the game with the Panthers. 

However, the difference in the game was the seventh inning when Creston scored five runs to take a 10-4 lead.

The Tigers had runners on in the seventh inning, but they weren’t able to capitalize as Creston completed the regular season sweep.

Red Oak had 10 hits in the game, led by catcher Colin Bruce, who was 3-for-4 with a run scored.

Guerra was 2-for-4 in the game with a run scored and an RBI.

Ryan Dyson also had a multi-hit game, going 2-for-3 with a run scored.

Taylor and Johnson were 1-for-4, while Connell went 1-for-2.