Bellevue blows past Clyde in SBC Lake opener

CLYDE — Bellevue just kept coming. The Redmen scored in five of the six innings they hit in, piling up an impressive offensive day at the plate. Ike Brown and Sam Bollinger each had four hits, Caden Lindsey doubled twice and Bellevue rolled to an 11-1 six-inning Sandusky Bay Conference Lake Division win over Clyde on Wednesday. "We were able to add on in a lot of innings," Redmen coach Andy Dennings said. "We were able to keep winning innings and that was nice to see. We've had some games where we haven't scored in the first three innings. We kept adding on in every inning and stretching the lead, which was really good. That keeps the pressure on them." Brown was 4-for-4, finishing with five runs batted in. Bollinger was 4-for-5, scoring three times. Lindsey drove in a run and scored for Bellevue (4-0, 1-0 SBC Lake). "Sam hit leadoff last game and we decided to stay with it," Dennings said. "That panned out. Ike is Ike. He really hit the ball well all year last year and hit the ball as a freshman. Right now, we've got a lot of guys that are swinging it pretty well. "That's nice because there's really no part of the order at the moment that you can take a break on." Brown had a RBI single in the first inning before Bellevue scored two runs in the third and fourth innings. In the third, Bollinger scored and went to second on a sacrifice bunt by Drew Dennings. Brown and Lindsey each followed with RBI doubles as the Redmen went up 3-0. "We go up there looking for strikes," Brown said. "That's all we want to hit. You want to get on any way you can and when someone does, you want to move them forward to the next base. We rallied some hits together and scored some runs." In the fourth, Blake Sutherland walked, Grant Musser was hit by a pitch and Bollinger singled to end Jonathan Lantz's day on the mound for the Fliers (1-3, 0-1). After reliever Mason Gurney got an out, Ike Brown roped a two-run single up the middle to increase the lead to 5-0. "Their approach was good," said Clyde coach Jake Strayer of Bellevue. "You can't give hitters like Ike the balls we did. We can't get behind him. He did a great job. They did a great job." In the fifth inning, Lindsey doubled and later scored on a wild pitch. The Redmen really blew the game open in the sixth inning. Bollinger singled, Dennings walked and a RBI single from Brown chased Gurney from the game. Clyde went to Drake Yohe, but command issues and errors in the field hurt Yohe. Reid Claus walked before a wild pitch with Cooper Winke at the plate scored Dennings. Winke was intentionally walked to load the bases. A strikeout and fielder's choice got Clyde two outs and it looked like the Fliers would get out of the inning. A popup on the infield appeared to be the third out, but it was dropped, scoring two runs. Another error by Clyde reloaded the bases and a wild pitch with Bollinger at the plate made it 11-0. "We fell behind early defensively," Strayer said. "We weren't getting first-pitch strikes and we were getting behind in counts. I think we had three errors and seven walks. When you give 10 extra chances, you're not going to win a whole lot of games that way. "That's contrary to what we did Monday (6-4 win over Galion). We hammered home yesterday we had to get ahead and throw first-pitch strikes." Sutherland was fantastic on the mound for Bellevue. Clyde had a chance in the first inning. Joel Greenslade led off with a hit into center, but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double. Sutherland walked two, but got a groundout to end the frame. "They got the hits when they needed to and we didn't," Strayer said. "We are an aggressive team on the bases. I don't fault us for sending Joel in the first inning, especially down 1-0 trying to get something going." Sutherland struck out the side in the second inning and added two more strikeouts in the third inning. He got the first two outs with ease in the fifth inning before Clyde loaded the bases. But, Sutherland got another grounder on the infield to escape damage. "He got out of some jams," said coach Dennings of the big left-handed pitcher. "We talked about trying to get ahead in counts a little more. As a staff, we have to cut down on walks and stop giving opportunities. If they hit, they hit. I thought he battled really well. "There were some situations where he got behind and they had some runners on, but he made pitches when he needed to." Clyde is back in action Friday when it travels to Norwalk (6-1, 1-0). "Norwalk is a really good team," Strayer said. "I talk to (Norwalk) coach (Jason) Higgins daily. They're a good baseball team and they've won a lot of baseball games already. They've played very well already. Friday doesn't get any easier." Bellevue has a quick turn-around when it hosts Tiffin Columbian (1-4, 0-1) on Thursday. "They do a nice job down there," said coach Dennings of the Tornadoes. "They'll be ready to go, but we'll be ready. It's a chance to play in some nice weather again and be at home. We'll be ready." Bellevue 102 215 — 11 12 1 Clyde 000 001 — 1 4 3 WP: Sutherland. LP: Lantz. 2B: (B) Lindsey 2, Brown