Celment ties national home run record

Marshalltown’s Jeff Clement tied the national home run record for high schoolers last night by hitting the 70th homer of his high school career. Clement’s homer — hit into the wind — came in the second inning of Marshalltown’s second game against Des Moines Lincoln. Clement says it was a 2-1 fastball and he gives the pitcher credit for coming after him. Clement didn’t know if the wind would keep the ball in the park with the wind blowing in.Clement says he’s getting used to the attention, and just focuses on getting a good swing at the ball when he gets to the plate. He says the atmosphere surrounding the game was fun.Clement will get a chance to take sole possession of the national record in a doubleheader in Mason City on Wednesday. He says he’ll approach it the same as every other game, going to the plate looking to hit the ball hard. Marshalltown coach Steve Hanson says he wasn’t worried about the wind keeping the record homer from happening, as when Clement gets ahold of a pitch, it’s hard to stop. Hanson says Clement’s success is more then natural talent, as Clement comes to the ballpark at 1:30 after taking extra batting practice at noon. He says that hard work is what makes Clement a good player. Former Michigan quarterback Drew Henson, who’s now part of the New York Yankee’s organization, set the 70 homer record in 1998. Another Iowa high schooler is in third place on the national list. Jamie Peterson of Winterset hit two home runs yesterday to move into third place with 67 high school homers.