The Clear Lake Lions captured their second consecutive 2A baseball championship with a dominant 8-1 victory over the Kuemper Catholic Knights at Principal Park on a sun-kissed Saturday afternoon. It was an all-around team effort as seven Lions reached base at least once and six had at least one RBI.
Clear Lake took control in the first inning and never let up as the team ripped eight hits in the game and capitalized on two Knight errors and three walks. The Lions opened with three consecutive hits, capped by an RBI double from Ben Mason to plate the first run of the game. Another came home on a wild pitch and the third run of the inning scored on a groundout that put Clear Lake in front, 3-0.
Lions’ starter Mason held Kuemper off until the third. Rease Snyder singled with one out, moved to second on a ground out and came around to score on a dropped infield fly to give the Knights their first and would-be only run of the game.
Clear Lake kept its bats going, posting another trio of runs in the third on RBI doubles from Ethan McHenry and Tanner Huey and another Kuemper error.
The Lions extended their lead with runs in each of the next two frames. In the fourth, Cooper Merrill doubled and later, came in to score on a sacrifice fly. McHenry opened the fifth with a triple and crossed home on a single from Zach Lester.
Mason stayed strong on the mound, retiring the side in order in the sixth. He allowed a double to Michael Mohr in the seventh before closing out the ball game.
It was the third title in four years for the Lions, who also won the 3A title in 2013. Second-ranked and top-seeded Clear Lake ends at 31-7.
Third-seeded Kuemper ends at 26-12.