Clarkdale sweeps Southeast Lauderdale with 5-4 win
Apr. 1—Clarkdale (17-2) beat a team by just one run for the fourth time this season and the second time last week when the Bulldogs grinded out a 5-4 victory at home over Southeast Lauderdale on Friday. The Bulldogs have won all their close games so far, as their two losses this season were by four runs.
Up one run, T.J. Gordon took the pitcher's mound in the seventh inning last Tuesday to close out a 4-3 win over Southeast. He closed out a second straight game against the Tigers on Friday after replacing Jax Joyner on the mound in the seventh inning when Clarkdale was up 5-4.
"That's just him," Clarkdale baseball coach Scott Gibson said of Gordon. "He's done it for us a lot. They know their job, they know their role, and they're not scared of it."
Gordon allowed a hit and a walk, but he shut down a Southeast Lauderdale comeback by throwing two strikeouts and a groundout to secure the win for the Bulldogs.
"They're not easy," Gordon said on playing Southeast. "It's a hard fight against them."
Friday's game was a hard fight for Clarkdale from the start, as Southeast's Jase Thomas, Logan Flaskamp and Jaden Voughn each scored a run in the top of the first inning before Nathan Wilson's pitching held Clarkdale scoreless in the bottom of the first inning. Gordon said the Bulldogs hit pretty well knowing they had to respond to the Tigers' 3-run inning.
"Our guys didn't panic," Gibson said. "I thought we had a good plan with Wilson. That's a great pitcher, phenomenal pitcher. I just thought we made him throw a lot of pitches tonight."
Clarkdale pulled within one run in the second inning, and a Cal Culpepper home run tied the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the third inning. Southeast managed to take a one-run lead in the sixth inning, but Culpepper struck back again with a two-run line drive to right field that gave Clarkdale a 5-4 lead.
"We responded again," Gibson said. "That's just our guys. They're never out of it."
Both Culpepper and Gibson said Culpepper did not have the best night on the mound after Tuesday's game. Gibson said the shortstop/pitcher responded on Friday by making plays all over the field on defense, and his game-tying home run provided a big spark for the Bulldogs' offense.
"He didn't have the best game the other night, and like great players do, he responded tonight to that challenge," Gibson said of Culpepper. "I'm glad he's on my side."
Southeast Lauderdale has had some problems with pitching consistency so far this season, and coach Shay Cooper said it was amazing Friday's game ended up being close after the Tigers' pitchers performed poorly.
"I think we had some good at-bats, it's just overshadowed by an inability to throw the ball across the plate," Cooper said.
