MUSKEGON – It was a very strange evening in Muskegon on Tuesday.

The temperature was unusually chilly for late June in Michigan, and an odd smoky haze tinged the air, the result of Canadian wildfires that have been raging for weeks.

On top of it all, the first-place Muskegon Clippers, 12-1 through their first 13 games, were completely thumped by the last place Jet Box Baseball Club, 13-1, in the first game of a doubleheader at Marsh Field.

But the world returned to its normal axis by the end of the evening, thanks to Muskegon’s Donovan Rinehart, who ripped a pitch over the left field fence in the bottom of the eighth inning of the second game, giving the Clippers a dramatic 3-2 walk-off victory.

The split left the Clippers with a 13-2 record. They remain in first place in the Great Lakes Collegiate League’s North Division, just ahead of the Lima Locos, who are 13-4.

The Clippers and Jet Box will meet again in Muskegon on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

The game was tied 2-2 after the seventh and final scheduled inning of Game 2 (doubleheader games are only seven innings). Rinehart was the first Clipper up in the bottom of the eighth and settled the matter with a big swing on the third pitch he faced.

The Kalamazoo College sophomore, a graduate of Grand Rapids West Catholic High School, said it was the first walk-off homer of his baseball career.

“It was exactly what I was looking for, a fastball inside,” said Rinehart, still wet from the ice water dousing he received from his teammates as he crossed the plate. “I knew they would throw that again, because I got beat on it twice earlier. I told myself I couldn’t miss like I had been all day.

“I took a couple steps after I hit it to make sure, then I think I knew it was gone.”

Rinehart was 1-for-4 in the first game and 0-for-3 in the second before the homer ended his night on a great note.

“He kind of had a rough day up until that at-bat, and we just told him to square something up and see what happens,” said Clippers manager Logan Fleener. “As soon as he made contact everyone knew where it was going.”

The dramatic victory was very welcome for the Clippers, who played what was undoubtedly their worst game of the season in the opener.

Jet Box, which started the day with an ugly 2-12 record, scored in each of the first five innings, including seven runs in the fifth. Four of those runs crossed the plate on bases-loaded walks by Clipper pitchers.

Overall five Muskegon pitchers gave up 13 hits and walked a total of eight batters.

The second game was much closer and ended far better for the home team.

Muskegon took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on a solo home run by Sam Lisiak.

Jet Bot scored twice in the top of the fourth on a two-run blast by Michael Tchavdarov. The Clippers knotted things up at 2-2 in the bottom of the inning when Brandon Scheuer led off with a single and worked his way around the bases to score.

The Clippers very nearly won the game in the bottom of the seventh when they had runners on first and third with two outs. Leading hitter Aaron Piasecki sent a liner to left field that looked like it would drop in and score the winning run, but the outfielder dove and caught the ball at the last second, ending the threat.

Clipper relief pitcher Jack Decker retired Jet Box in order in the top of the eighth, then Rinehart settled the issue with his dramatic homer in the bottom of the inning.

“It was a heck of a way to come back from a punch in the mouth (in the first game),” Fleener said.

Muskegon was able to win because the pitching in the second game was dramatically better than the first.

Starter DJ Thompson scattered five hits over seven innings while striking out five and walking only two.

“DJ Thompson was absolutely magnificent and JackDecker came out in the seventh and gave us a big zero,” Fleener said about his pitchers. “It doesn’t get much cooler than that.”