MUSKEGON – The start of every season is a bit of a mystery for the Muskegon Clippers.
Team management spends months recruiting college baseball players from throughout the region, and while they do their homework on the guys they’re getting, it’s hard to tell much about the group until it hits the field and plays.
Well, the Clippers are only one game into the 2023 season, but so far things look pretty good.
The Muskegon crew displayed strong pitching, clutch hitting and solid defense in an impressive 8-4 victory over the Detroit-based Jet Box Baseball Club in the season opener on Tuesday night at Marsh Field.
[1]The two teams will go at it again in Muskegon on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.
Clippers manager Logan Fleener said the team definitely benefitted from playing together in an exhibition game on Sunday, and the players were pumped up by the big opening night crowd.
“We had a really nice crowd that created a lot of energy, and our guys showed a lot of athleticism tonight,” he said. “It’s huge (getting the opening win). It gives us momentum going into a long first week.”
Starting pitcher Daniel Gutierrez, a returnee from last season, was very sharp in his opening-game assignment, scattering eight hits while striking out eight in six innings of work.
Overall Gutierrez and reliever Jack Decker (three innings) struck out 11 batters.
[2]“I thought Danny was really sharp on the mound,” Fleener said about Gutierrez. “Once he settled down after the first two hitters (who had a double and RBI single) he was really good.”
The Clippers also had plenty of offense to overcome an early Jet Box lead.
Brandon Scheurer led the way with three hits while Luke Kerrins, Sam Lisiak and Danny Passinault each had two.
Lisiak and recent Mona Shores grad Aaron Piasecki each knocked in two runs.
Overall the Clippers pounded out 13 hits and seven of their eight runs were the result of RBIs.
[3]The first “Clipper Clobber” home run of the season came from Lisiak, who hit a solo shot to left field in the bottom of the seventh inning.
The defense was also very sharp, with Lisiak, the catcher, throwing out two runners trying to steal second, and the Clippers fighting off a potential Jet Box rally with double plays in both the eighth and ninth innings.
“The way our infield has played since Thursday when we practiced for the first time, the middle of our infield right now can really defend,” Fleener said. “That’s something to look forward to all summer long. Playing in a wooden bat league, it’s pretty good to have guys who can make the play every time.”
Jet Box was the first team on the scoreboard, taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning on an RBI single by Ryan Lux.
[4]The Clippers answered right away in the bottom of the inning when Colin Cornwell, another returnee from last season, delivered an RBI single.
Muskegon pulled ahead for good in the second inning when Piasecki hit a two-run single to make the score 3-1.
The Clippers tacked on four more runs in the third inning when Lisiak got an RBI with an infield single, Scheurer and Kerrins added RBI singles and another run scored on a passed ball.
Jet Box scored twice in the fifth inning and once in the seventh to make the score 7-4, then the Clippers capped off the scoring with Lisiak’s solo shot in the bottom of the seventh.
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