By Dave Hart
LocalSportsJournal.com
MUSKEGON- The Muskegon Clippers have been playing their best baseball of the season down the stretch.
The Clippers entered Saturday night’s contest on a three-game winning streak, which included a doubleheader sweep against the St. Clair Green Giants on Friday at Marsh Field by scores of 6-3 and 5-4.
Muskegon looked to continue the streak, but fell just short against the Green Giants by a 6-4 margin.
The Clippers are now 15-14 on the season with 13 games remaining on the schedule. Muskegon is currently in second place in the GLSCBL’s Northern Division. The top two teams in each division qualify for the postseason season.
“We just couldn’t generate enough offense tonight,” said Clippers manager Walt Gawkowski. “We couldn’t get anything going even with the chances we had. Tomorrow is going to be really important for us.”
The Clippers will close out the current home stand on Sunday at 5:05 p.m. against St. Clair before heading out for a nine-game road swing.
The Green Giants opened the scoring in the second inning on a two-run home run by Jayden Wakeham to give St. Clair a 2-0 lead.
St. Clair increased its lead to 4-0 in the fourth inning on RBI singles from Jared Pingitore and Wakeham.
The Clippers finally recorded their first run and hit of the contest in the sixth frame on a solo home run by Josh Holt.
The Green Giants responded in the seventh inning with a solo blast by Wakeham to give St. Clair a 5-1 lead.
Muskegon responded in the bottom half of the seventh inning with a two-run single by Rob Zuwarski. A third run was also scored on the play after a couple of errors by the Green Giant players.
The Clippers trailed 5-4 heading into the eighth inning.
St. Clair closed out the scoring on Wakeham’s third solo home run of the contest to give the Green Giants the 6-4 advantage.
Brady Miller suffered the loss for the Clippers, allowing four runs on five hits in six innings pitched while striking out five batters.