MUSKEGON – Muskegon Clippers fans are getting to the point where they know better than to leave games early, no matter how badly things might be going.

The Clippers have developed a knack for late-inning comeback victories, and it happened again on Tuesday at Marsh Field.

Muskegon had already lost the first game of a doubleheader to the first-place Lima Locos 9-0, and the second game was not going well, with the Clippers trailing 3-0 and 5-2 at different points in the seven-inning contest.

But the home team saved the best for last again, plating two runs in the fourth inning, another two in the fifth, then scoring five in a huge sixth inning to literally steal a 9-7 victory in the nightcap and salvage a split.

The Clippers and Locos will clash again in Muskegon on Wednesday and Thursday nightS in the last two games of the big series, as the pecking order in the Great Lakes League’s Northern Division continues to unfold.

Lima remains in first place with a 9-7 record while the Clippers (7-7) remain in fourth, but only two games out of first place.

“Early in the second game, I was trying to remember that it’s only Game 14, but any time you can beat a team above you in the standings, it helps control your own fate later on,” said Clippers Manager Logan Fleener.

The late-inning heroics are becoming an attractive calling-card for the Clippers, and opponents are starting to understand that they should never feel comfortable with any lead.

Last Friday the Clippers trailed the Michigan Monarchs by five runs, then rallied to win 11-10 on a walk-off home run.

On Saturday they trailed by a run in the seventh inning, then rallied to beat the Monarchs 8-6.

On Tuesday they showed the same impressive spark, rallying for the win in Game 2 after being drubbed in the first game, and Fleener was impressed, to say the least.

“In the first game, we just didn’t show up, but then we went to work and fought like crap and won,” Fleener said. “It’s fun to watch.

“It’s a huge deal. We were down in Game 2, as well, then to get that one back, heading into tomorrow and the next day, it changes everything.”

Lima scored one run in the second inning and two in the third to take a 3-0 lead. The Clippers answered with two runs in the fourth on a two-RBI double by Stoney Smith, but the Locos scored two in the top of the fifth to pull ahead 5-2.

Muskegon added two runs in the fifth inning on a two-run double by Trent Nielsen and pulled within a run. Then the Clippers took control in the sixth with an RBI double by Logan Hylek, a single by Lukas Bolton that produced two runs (one earned and one on an error), an RBI walk by Colin Cornwell and an RBI single by Cooper Mills.

Nielsen and Smith each finished with two hits and two RBIs for the Clippers.