By Dave Hart
LocalSportsJournal.com

MUSKEGON – The Muskegon Clippers are still not giving up, despite their long odds of making it to the postseason.

The Clippers are three games out of the last playoff spot with just eight games remaining, and the teams ahead of them are not giving up any ground.

But Muskegon continues to play tough, and on Friday the Clippers cruised past the St. Clair Green Giants 14-0 in a game shortened to seven innings due to the rain at Marsh Field.

The Clippers, who outscored St. Clair by a 31-5 margin during the two-game sweep, have now won three in a row and have a 17-17 record. They are tied for fourth place in the Great Lakes Collegiate Summer Baseball League’s Northern Division, and the top three teams make the playoffs.

“We are playing with a lot of confidence right now,” said Clippers manager Walt Gawkowski. “We had a great pitching performance from Cam Miller and Brett Nearing and we swung the bats real well. I am hoping the last eight games are going to be a lot of fun, hopefully we can make a run.”

Muskegon will remain home to start a two-game set on Saturday night against the Grand Lake Mariners. First pitch is slated for 7:05 p.m.

The Clippers opened the scoring in the second inning on an RBI single by Nolan Bryant.

The contest remained 1-0 in favor of Muskegon until the fifth frame, when the Clippers scored six runs to take a 7-0 advantage.

Muskegon then added a run in the sixth inning to take an 8-0 lead.

The Clippers continued to pour it on in the seventh inning while a light rain came down. They added another six runs, which included a grand slam home run by Jimmy Roche, to make the score 12-0.

After back-to-back walks, Micah Allen knocked in another two runs with a double to close out the scoring, before the game was shortened by heavy rain.

The Clippers were paced offensively by Roche with three hits, five RBIs and two runs.

Ryan Blake-Jones added two hits and three RBIs while Bryant chipped in with two hits and two RBIs.

Miller pitched the victory for Muskegon, tossing five scoreless innings while allowing just two hits and striking out five batters.

Brett Nearing tossed two scoreless innings of relief and struck out two batters.