By Dave Hart
LocalSportsJournal.com

MUSKEGON – What started as an early pitching duel quickly became a high-scoring affair on Friday night at Marsh Field.

The Muskegon Clippers were in a tight 1-1 battle midway through the fifth and then the floodgates opened as the teams combined to score 18 runs from the bottom of the fifth through the final out.

The Clippers had the final say by scoring five runs in the seventh to take a five-run lead before holding on to beat the Xenia Scouts 11-9 to improve to 8-5 on the season.

Muskegon remains in second place and will look to make it two straight at 7:05 p.m. Saturday at Marsh Field.

“That was an ugly one at times, but we will take the ugly wins for sure,” said Clippers’ manager Logan Fleener. “Tonight, our biggest enemy was ourselves. So many innings where the offense found a way to get a few, but the pitchers need to start finding a way to compete in the zone.”

The offense certainly showed up by pounding out 13 hits and taking advantage of six walks, but the Clippers pitching staff walked 11 batters and allowed seven hits.

The Scouts jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the third inning before the Clippers tied the contest on a home run from Austin Cicerone.

The game remained tied until the bottom of the fifth inning as the Clippers scored three runs to take a 4-1 lead.

Justin Osterhouse had a two-run double with the bases loaded. The third run scored on the double after an error from the Scouts.

Xenia tied the game 4-4 by scoring three runs in the top of the sixth inning. The Clippers responded with two runs to take a 6-4 lead into the seventh inning.

Carson McCoy had a two-run double to give Muskegon the two-run lead.

The Scouts countered with two runs in the top of the seventh to tie the game again.

The Clippers exploded for five runs in the bottom of the seventh and took an 11-6 advantage.

Muskegon scored on a single from Preston Leon and Cole Mason, then scored on a double by Cicerone.

Cooper Hums and Sam Lisiak closed out the scoring with sacrifice flies.

The Scouts tightened the game by scoring two runs in the eighth inning and one in the ninth, but failed to complete the comeback.

McCoy paced the Clippers with three hits, two RBI and a run scored, while Cicerone added two hits, two RBI and two runs scored.

Ten Clipper players recorded at least one base hit. Osterhouse also had two RBI and two runs scored.

Garret Brewer started the contest for Muskegon a tossed a no-decision, allowing one unearned run on no hits while striking out three batters in two innings.

Cody Matuz pitched a solid 3 2/3 innings of relief, allowing one earned run on two hits while striking out six batters.

Dylan Kaminski earned the win, allowing two hits in 1 1/3 hitless innings while Zachary Warren notched the save, recording the final three outs while giving up a run on a hit and striking out three batters in the ninth.

Photos by Leo Valdez.