Big inning propels Clayton baseball past Garner
Wednesday night’s Garner-Clayton baseball game boiled down to one inning. One big inning.
Clayton sent 12 batters to the plate in the fourth inning, banging out seven hits and scoring seven runs, and went on to defeat Garner 8-2 in a battle of Greater Neuse River 4A Conference frontrunners.
“We had some good swings in that inning and they struggled throwing strikes in the inning,” said Clayton coach Stacey Houser. “And when you put crooked numbers up a lot of times you have a chance to win a game.”
Garner (7-7, 5-2 GNRC) had scored two runs in the top of the fourth take a 2-1 lead.
Once the Comets took the 8-2 lead after the fourth, that was more than enough for Clayton pitchers Tyler Tuthill and Luke Ennis. Ennis came on in the fifth inning with two Trojans on base and pitched out of the jam, finishing up the game with 2 2/3 scoreless innings of relief.
“Our pitchers threw well tonight,” Houser said. “Tyler threw well for four and then I think he just got a little tired. He kind of ran his pitch count up a little in the third and fourth. He’s just a sophomore and we are not letting him go more than 80 (pitches). He got us to where we needed to be.
“Luke came in and threw the ball very well. It was a good night.”
The two Clayton lefties combined to hold Garner to four hits.
Clayton improved to 11-5 and 6-1 in the league. Garner and Clayton entered the game in a three-way tie with West Johnston for first place in the standings.
The Comets got big games at the plate from Dylan Omana, Brooks Verona and Zach Greene, who had two hits apiece.
The two teams faced a rematch Friday night at Garner. Under a new scheduling format in the league, teams play a home-and-home series each week.
Turning point
The Clayton fourth. The Comets put a “7” on the board to take control of the game. Clayton had seven hits to go with a pair of Garner walks. Blake Joyner drove in a pair of runs and Omana, Tuthill, Verona and Drew Boumenot also had RBIs.
“That inning they strung together a lot of real good two-strike hits and a lot of two-out hits,” said Garner coach Derik Goffena. “They did a much better job than us tonight of battling late in the count and it sure showed in that big inning.”
They said it
“We’re trying to win each week now,” Houser said. “This new format now, I like it, and what we are trying to do is win each week. So far, we’ve split with East Wake and won the other two weeks. At worst we want to split the week, but we try to win it. That has been our approach.”
“You get to see more of a team (under the new format). For years, all of us would have a good pitcher every now then and we would match that good pitcher against certain teams. You would go two or three years and see that same pitcher every time. Now we are seeing pretty much the whole staff.”
“It’s been different and it’s been fun.”
Three to Know
Clayton’s Tyler Tuthill: The sophomore started and got the victory for the Comets, giving up two runs in 4 1/3 innings. He also had a pair of hits and an RBI.
Clayton’s Blake Joyner: Had the big hit in the Comets’ seven-run fourth, a two-run single to left field – driving in the fourth and fifth runs of the inning.
Clayton’s Luke Ennis: Relieved Tuthill in the fifth and pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings.
This story was originally published April 13, 2016 at 11:05 PM with the headline "Big inning propels Clayton baseball past Garner."