MUSKEGON – One sure sign of a really good team is when it finds ways to win on otherwise bad nights.

The Muskegon Clippers came into Saturday’s home game against the Michigan Monarchs with a perfect 6-0 record and had been hitting well throughout the season-opening hot streak.

But the bats were unusually quiet against the Monarchs and nothing seemed to be working.

The Clippers trailed 2-1 with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning and their first loss of the season seemed moments away.

Then Mona Shores grad Aaron Piasecki strode to the plate with runners at first and second, and the pressure situation didn’t get the best of him.

He calmly lined the first pitch to left field, the diving outfielder could not haul it in, and both runners scored to give Muskegon a thrilling 3-2 walk-off win on a night when victory did not seem likely.

“No,” Piasecki said after the game, when asked if he was nervous in that final at-bat. “I love those situations. They’re fun. It’s awesome if you deliver.

“It was a pitch on the outer half and my eyes just kind of lit up when I saw it. I put a good swing on it and it worked out.”

Clippers manager Logan Fleener said Piasecki was the perfect guy to have at the plate in that do-or-die situation.

“Right guy, right time,” he said. “We call him the mayor around here, because he’s a hometown kid, he’s confident in himself, and he just finds hits. He’s done it all his life, and now he’s done it through seven games for us.”

The Clippers, now 7-0 and in first place in the Great Lakes Collegiate Baseball League’s Northern Division, will visit the Monarchs (4-5) tomorrow in the finale of the two-game series.

The night-inning rally was well overdue for the Clippers, who had threatened to explode for runs on several occasions over the course of the game but came up short each time.

Muskegon loaded the bases with no outs in the second inning, but failed to score. The same thing happened in the bottom of the eighth.

“We had five strikeouts with the bases loaded – that’s usually not a winning formula,” Fleener said.

Fleener admitted that part of the problem with the offense was inactivity. After playing only once since last Sunday, due to a few off days and two rainouts, he understood why the hitters were a bit rusty.

“I don’t like the breaks (between games),” Fleener said. “That’s not usually what this league is all about. But we rean into two off days, then we had a rain day and another rain day, and that can make this game really hard to play.

“We wanted to get back out there and let these guys play. They are so much fun to watch play right now.”

The Clippers’ pitchers also had a rougher-than-usual night overall, giving up a total of six hits and six walks.

Starter Matthew Hoover pitched 5 1/3 innings, allowing six hits and two runs while striking out eight and getting himself out of several dangerous situations.

Reliver Jack Decker tossed the final 3 1/3 innings, striking out five with no hits and no walks.

Altogether the three Muskegon pitchers (including North Muskegon’s Charlie Branch) struck out 14 batters.

“They got huge outs at the right times,” Fleener said.

The Monarchs took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning, then the Clippers tied the score in the bottom when Piasecki reached base, advanced to second and scored on a single by Aidan Arbogast.

The visitors took a 2-1 lead in the top of the sixth, and that scored held up until the bottom of the ninth, when the Clippers managed to pull the win from the jaws of defeat.

Stoney Smith led off for Muskegon and struck out, Colin Cornwell reached base on a walk, Brandon Scheurer was hit by a pitch, and Luke Kerrins struck out, leaving two on with two outs for Piasecki, who quickly settled the issue on the first pitch.

Piasecki finished with three hits for the Clippers while Sheehan O’Conner added two.