It was another up and down week for the Cardinals baseball squad as they experienced the high of a big win but also the low of a big loss.
On Wednesday, Will Golder collected 4 hits in 5 trips to the plate as Clinton soundly defeated Appleton City with a 13-5 final.
Golder doubled in the third, singled in the second and sixth innings and then topped off his big night with another double in the seventh.
The Cardinals struck early when they plated 4 runs in the top of the first inning, the first coming off of a walk issued to Jacob Balke that forced in Clinton's first run of the ball game.
The Cardinals tagged Appleton City for 4 more runs in the top of the third to make it 7-0 and the game tightened up after the sixth when the scoreboard read 8-5, yet still in favor of the good guys.
However, Clinton managed to pull away in the top of the seventh when they scored 5 runs on 2 hits. Kanden LaFarge drew a walk, scoring 1 run; Golder's second double of the game drove in 1 run, Jack English hit into a fielder's choice, but plated 2 more runs and the Cardinals rally ended after Kaiden Townsend grounded out but forced in Clinton's last run for the 13-5 final.
The Cardinals racked up 12 hits in the contest.
Golder paced the offense with his 4 hits. He also picked up 2 RBI's and scored twice himself.
Balke went 3 for 3 in the game and also drew 2 walks. He finished with 1 RBI and 1 run.
LaFarge, English, Jimmy Schmedding, Cody Mitchell and Austin Petry all contributed 1 hit apiece in the Cardinals attack.
English collected 3 RBI's, LaFarge and Schmeddding both had 2.
As a team, the Cardinals swiped 10 bases. Golder had 3, Petry and LaFarge had 2 and Balke, Maverick Martin and Keaton Cloud all had 1.
Golder earned the win for Clinton on the mound. He gave up 1 run on 1 hit over three innings of work. LaFarge and Conner Bramell both worked in relief for the Cards.
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The Cardinals and Stockton were knotted up at 1-1 after the first inning but the visiting Tigers flipped the game in the second, scoring 6 runs on just 2 hits to take a 7-1 lead.
Stockton tacked on 3 more runs in the third, 1 in the fourth and then rallied for 6 runs in the fifth to close the Cardinals out early with a 17-2 final.
Cardinals' bats went silent in this one as Jimmy Schmedding and Corban Dody tallied the only hits for the redbirds.
Maverick Martin absorbed the Clinton loss while Jack English, Jacob Balke and Chase Beasley also toed the rubber.
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The Cardinals will play in the annual Holden State Farm Classic throughout this week. Their first tilt in that event was scheduled for Tuesday night when they took on the host Eagles.
They'll resume their regular season schedule when they travel to Harrisonville on Thursday, April 18.
