Falling into place: Stelzer comes up big for Clinton in regional semifinal
JACKSON –– In the top of the first, Jalen Stelzer cleanly fielded two groundouts and felt something different.
It wasn’t the nerves one might expect out of a freshman starting at third in a pivotal regional semifinal. But standing in light rain, Stelzer still didn’t feel quite like his regular self.
“I was feeling like a different animal (Wednesday),” he said. “I don’t know how to explain it.”
If Stelzer can’t explain it, his play certainly did. The freshman third baseman went 3-for-3 at the plate with a 2-run single and a 2-run home run on Wednesday and a single on Thursday as Clinton downed Jackson Lumen Christi 10-2 in a two day affair to advance to the regional final against Hudson.
It’s yet another chapter in the Redwolves’ high-flying hot streak as they advance to their first regional final appearance since 2014. A true team effort, no player is solely powering the Redwolves forward in a deep run head coach Joe Gillies has been looking for since he started coaching.
“Everything right now seems to be working,” he said. “It’s baseball, you kind of get on those hot streaks and then things cool back down. We’re just playing well at the right time.
“I told (the team) there’s no reason we can’t make it to Michigan State. That’s got to be the goal at this point.”
But if anybody on the team embodies this run to the Sweet 16, it’s Stelzer, the light-hearted, “lovable” presence coming through in key spots for a Clinton team that feels they have their best baseball ahead of them.
Gillies said Stelzer would have normally played on varsity all year, but his youth forced the coach’s hand in moving him down to an unusually thin JV team for stretches of the season.
Thinness aside, one that still went 23-1.
“Jalen was their best player,” Gillies said. “We wanted to make sure that he got the work that he needed so come postseason time, he would be ready to go. And obviously he was.”
Stelzer said it was still a little weird to bounce back and forth between two teams, even after going through a similar experience with basketball. But after working through a midseason slump at the JV level, the benefits of the decision have presented themselves in a big way.
“I think JV did help a lot, just being able to get a lot of reps, hit the ball a lot,” he said. “Then I came up here and just kept it going.”
Now running with the Redwolves until their season comes to an end, Stelzer was a force in the district final against Manchester, pitching five innings in relief for the win and driving in three runs at the plate.
Then there was the regional semifinal. After driving in Ryan Tschirhart and Derek Tomalak in the first with a two-out single, Stelzer turned on a fastball in the third and sent it long through misting rain.
“Kind of thought it was a pop out and then it just kept going,” he said.
Dropping over the right field fence, Stelzer’s 2-run home run and the second of his varsity career gave Clinton the 5-0 lead and another indelible moment for a player happy to fit in as things keep falling into place for his team heading into Saturday’s regional final against Hudson.
“I don’t care what happens,” he said. “If I strike out four times and we get the win, that’s really all that matters.
“That’s all I really want. To feel like a part of the team that’s winning games.”
This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Jalen Stelzer helps Clinton win regional semifinal
