MUSKEGON – Last year the Muskegon Clippers finished the season with 17 victories.

This year the Clippers are one win away from that same victory total, and the season isn’t even quite half over.

The first-place Clippers put the finishing touches on a three-game series sweep of the Michigan Monarchs on Saturday with a 4-0 victory in front of a big crowd at Marsh Field.

The latest win left Muskegon with a pretty amazing 16-2 record, good for first place in the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League’s North Division.

Clippers pitcher Gavin Sitarz follows through after a pitch.

As good as the Clippers have been, their biggest test to date is right around the corner. They will begin a three-game road series against the second-place Lima Locos (15-5) on Tuesday and will try to cement their hold on the top spot in the division.

“These guys keep finding ways to win,” said Clippers manager Logan Fleener, whose team has now won four games in a row. “After the first three innings we were not good with the sticks, but we found a way to win.”

Fleener vividly recalls last season, his first as manager, when the team finished with a 17-21 record, good for last place in the division.

“It’s a different world right now and I like it,” Fleener said. “As much as we care about development (for the college players on the roster), we still love to win. We want to keep collecting wins.”

The Clippers’ Colin Cornwell gets ready to step into a pitch.

The big story on Saturday for Muskegon was pitching.

That wasn’t necessarily the plan, because the Clippers are a little short of starting pitchers at the moment and used a “bullpen day” (or a series of relief pitchers) to get through Saturday’s game.

It worked out just fine, with pitchers Ben Alderson, Gavin Sitarz, Matt Hoover, Blake Gedrich and Brandon Scheurer combining to shut out the Monarchs on six hits and 13 strikeouts, with only one walk.

That’s the type of pitching the Clippers have been getting all season, and it’s almost always a recipe for success.

Muskegon’s Nicolas Hawkins rounds third base.

The Clippers took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a single by Colin Cornwell.

They added two more runs in the second inning on RBI walks from Sheehan O’Connor and Aaron Piasecki.

The final run came in the top of the seventh when Piasecki walked, advanced to third base, then scampered home on a pass ball.

Cornwell, Jabin Bates and Aidan Arbocast all had three hits for Muskegon.