Clintonville wins thriller over Shawano

In a highly entertaining matchup, it was Clintonville’s Jared Cartwright that came through when his team needed him the most to pick up a road win over Shawano on Thursday.

Cartwright delivered the go-ahead RBI single in the top of the eighth inning before escaping a bases-loaded jam in the bottom half to help Clintonville to a 3-2 win.

“I went up to the plate, I wasn’t overthinking anything. I was patient and waited for a good pitch and just tried to barrel it up,” said Cartwright on his at-bat in the eighth. He also credited the team’s energy for getting him through eight innings on the hill.

Klay Barkow doubled to open the eighth for Clintonville. He moved to third on a wild pitch before Cartwright’s one-out single scored him.

In the bottom half of the eighth, Shawano’s Wyatt Brandt singled before Kaleb Lowney walked. Joey Sperberg then laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners to second and third before Clintonville intentionally walked Ashton Henning to load the bases.

Cartwright recorded his fourth strikeout of the contest for the second out before including a groundout to end it.

Despite the tough loss, Shawano coach Dustin Beyer believes it was the kind of game that could help his young team the rest of the summer and in the coming years.

“It was a good learning lesson tonight for these young guys,” said Beyer. “I spoke to them after the game and we were talking about next spring and these clutch moments, these extra-inning games where one little thing can make or break you. We need to learn from this ballgame here tonight, it was a great game.”

“I’m proud of the kids tonight. We came up on the wrong end but the boys played hard tonight.”

It was only Shawano’s second loss this summer, with both coming to Clintonville.

Clintonville cracked the scoreboard first, as Brock Smejkal tripled with one out in the first inning and then scored when Cartwright reached on an error.

Shawano tied it in the second inning after Andrew Popp walked to start the inning. Popp stole second, and after an errant throw to second and then a misplay in the outfield, Popp scored on the play.

The game remained deadlocked until the top of the fifth, when Clintonville took advantage of another Shawano defensive miscue. Clintonville’s Chance Bork walked with one out and came around to score when what looked to be a popup to end the inning landed in between a couple Shawano defenders.

Down to their final three outs, Shawano rallied in the seventh. After Zach Erdmann reached to open the inning, he was pinch ran for by Ian Reinders, who moved up to second on a Jacob Landon sac bunt. Popp followed with a booming RBI double, but was eventually stranded after a popup and groundout.

Brandan Bushy tossed the first five innings for Shawano, striking out eight batters along the way. Henning worked the final three frames for the hosts.

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