Tigers' Big Innings Do in Johnny Mac Thunder

Matt Clohisy is normally an infielder for the St. Louis Tigers.

But Tuesday it was his arm on the mound and his bat at the plate that propelled his team to a convincing 12-1 victory over Johnny Mac in a St. Louis Amateur Baseball Association (SLABA) 17 contest at Mehlville High School.

"My arm felt good and I had good location tonight," said Clohisy, who will be a junior at St. Louis University High. "I was trying to hit the outside corner and the umpire was giving me the call tonight."

Clohisy pitched the first five innings and allowed just one run. But that one run gave the Thunder a 1-0 lead going into the fourth inning. That was when Chohisy did his thing at the plate.

Johnny Mac southpaw Conner Muckler had shut out the Tigers through the first three innings, getting out of a bases-loaded jam in the second inning.

Muckler retired lead-off batter Carter Gage to start the fourth. Christopher Lynas singled and then Clohisy hit a long home run over the right center field fence. It was the first home run for Clohisy since his grade school days playing in the CYC.

"I wanted to be aggressive and hit the first pitch," Clohisy said. "It felt good off the bat although I did not think it was going over the fence."

It would be all Tigers the rest of the way as they scored four runs in the sixth inning and five in the seventh.

"We have a team which is capable of having some big innings," Tiger coach Jimmy Abbott said. "We have been missing guys through the year but we are starting to get everybody back and are playing much better of late, winning four of our last five games."

It was a game through the first half of the game Tuesday. Johnny Mac had several scoring chances in the first four innings that had stolen bases in each inning and had runners in scoring position in each inning.

But the Thunder was able to score only in the third on a lead-off single by Clark DeWoskin and two-out hits by Steve Wilson and Matt Fulgham.

The Thunder also lost a pair of runners, including one at the plate as Wilson was thrown out attempting to score on Fulgham's hit in the third.

"We are an aggressive team and we had our opportunities to score and just couldn't get the big hit," Johnny Mac coach Steve Braun said. "We not only left the guys on but also had the guys thrown out on the bases.

"Conner did a good job on the mound of keeping us in the game. It was up for grabs for a long time and then got away from us. I told the guys that the team we played was a good team but that they were not the New York Yankees."

Johnny Mac stranded seven runners in the game.

The Tigers finished with 14 hits with Matt Lynas and L.J. Hernandez leading the way with three each.