Clark uses big third inning to take title

Updated: May 30, 2011 9:26PM

HAMMOND — Despite making good contact in five of its first six at bats during Monday’s Gavit Sectional title game against Hammond, Clark head coach Chris Moore knew his batters needed to practice a little more discipline at the plate.

In the third inning, that discipline paid off.

The lower part of the order got things going against the Wildcats and starter Jordan Beasley, loading the bases. Then the heart of the order took it from there, driving in seven of the eight runs scored in the third, eventually leading to a 15-0 championship victory.

Joe Romero had a three-run double, Luis Haro had a two-run single for the Pioneers (21-9) in the third. Clark starter Jordan Polak (7-3), who also added an RBI single in the third, shut down the Wildcats offense with 11 strikeouts, giving up two hits and walking just two in four innings of work.

“It was just a matter of the guys making that adjustment and getting on top of the ball,” Moore said. “Once we got that first hit it became contagious. We were getting some quality at bats today and getting some walks.”

Moore said he was also pleased that his team was able to generate offense with winds blowing in as well as executing on necessary fundamentals.

“It helped when we the lineup got a second chance, but it was still hard because the wind wasn’t blowing out,” Moore said. “The guys like to get the ball up there in the jet stream. But we played smart ball and even executed a sacrifice bunt, which we haven’t done in while.”

And that fundamental execution even caught Hammond head coach Michael Siwy a bit by surprise.

“We knew those guys would make the adjustment offensively, but they also got it together playing small ball — we weren’t expecting that,” he said.

Haro’s two-run single put Clark on the board, driving in Chad Mysieuiz and Christian Quiroz. Romero’s double scored Haro, Alex Evanich and Polak. Enique Zamora’s double scored Romero. Quirez closed out the eight-run third with a RBI single, which scored Zamora.

“We were probably more excited at the plate early because of this being a Sectional Title game,” Romero said. “And we’ve been really facing some fast pitching in the past few weeks, so we had to also adjust to slower pitching today. But all it took was a hit from Jerald Morgan to get us going.”

© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.