2016 35+ Central

Salt Lake Lugnuts 10, So Cal Titans 2

‘Clinton Complete Game Stifles Titans for Second Time’

By Patricia Garcia, special to MSBL National

October 22, 2016, Maryvale Stadium (Phoenix, Ariz.)– Salt Lake Lugnuts’ starting pitcher Ray Clinton walked out to the mound nine times in the 10-2 victory over the So Cal Titans. While, it was the second complete game Clinton threw in the tournament, both resulting in wins over the same team, this one was for the World Series Championship.

“He only pitched two games in this tournament and both games he pitched in were against us,” Titans’ manager Kelly Skeens said. “He’s probably the best pitcher that we saw all week, very consistent.”

Clinton allowed 11 hits, but only two runs in his complete game performance. He struck out three batters and walked three others.

“It was huge. We were out of guys, we pitched everybody we had. Ray came up strong, threw the whole game, threw a great game,” Lugnuts’ manager Joey Robinson said. “A lot of good defense behind him, no real errors, pitching and defense won this game for us.”

The Lugnuts totaled for 12 hits, but 10 total runs. Two batters were hit by a pitch and one was walked. However, the damage could have been much worse as the Lugnuts stranded a total of seven runners on base.

“We played shorthanded, came down we missed a lot of our guys, but had enough fight in us to play through it,” Robinson said. “Great team, great brotherhood…another win, but we earned this one.”

Skeens agreed with the Lugnuts earning this win, as the Titans stranded seven runners of their own and hit into three double plays.

“They don’t give you any runs, they play great defense, they put the ball in play, so certainly we tip our hats to them,” Skeens said. “This is a well deserved for a championship for them.”

However, the manager of the So Cal Titans thought playing two games the day before in 107-degree Arizona heat beat his team up a little bit and he hopes they can bounce back in the future.

“A little disappointed in our results, but we’ve been here 12 straight years,” Skeens said. “We’ve won four rings ourselves and we’re just trying to get back to the glory days.”

For now, the Lugnuts get to revel in their own glory days, as they dedicated yet another win with a banner to match to their former shortstop Mad Dogg (Brian Madlung).

“Mad Dogg was our shortstop a couple years ago, he had an accident at work and passed away. We dedicate a lot of our wins to him,”Robinson said. “It was a big loss for us, he was a great guy, so this is a way for us to remember him.”