Monarch pitcher Clark Aden fires his only pitch during the opening game of the Hays-Hoehn Tournament. He was the winning pitcher for the Monarchs in the first game of the twinbill.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
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At times, baseball can be a very funny game.
For example, Marysville High School pitcher Clark Aden threw only one pitch during a contest against London on Saturday.
Yet, he turned out to be the winning pitcher during the opening game of Marysville’s Hays-Hoehn Tournament.
The score was tied 2-2 when Aden, a right-hander, came in with two out in the top of the sixth in relief of starting southpaw James Hackworth.
London’s Braiden Collins was perched on second when Aden threw a pitch into the dirt.
Collins broke for third, but was gunned down at the bag on a throw by MHS catcher Rocco Marchetti.
With the out, Aden became Marysville’s pitcher of record before the Monarchs scored the go-ahead run in the home half of the sixth.
Tate Martino came on in relief for the visitors’ portion of the seventh.
He retired all three London batters on strikeouts to pick up the save in MHS’ 3-2 triumph.
“Clark probably made Marysville baseball history today,” said head coach Nick Blake. “He’s probably the only pitcher to throw one pitch and come up with the win.”
“It feels pretty good to win the game,” smiled Aden. “I was happy to come in.
“I threw a curve ball into the dirt,” he said. “I guess it was a ‘one pitch wonder.’”
Hackworth fanned four of the seven batters he faced through the first two innings of the contest.
He got into a bit of trouble, however, when the Red Raiders took a 2-0 edge in the visitors’ portion of the third.
London scored its first run on an MHS error and added its second on an RBI-single from Cody Wheeler.
MHS cut its deficit in half during the bottom of the third.
Marchetti blasted a triple off Red Raider starting pitcher Cuyler Greenhill.
A sacrifice fly by Mason Springs put the Monarchs’ first run on the board.
Griffin Scheiderer followed with a double, but was left stranded on a ball hit to the infield and a strikeout.
The game remained at 2-1 through the top of the fifth.
Marysville tied the contest in the home half of that inning.
With one down, Springs ripped a double and went to third on a balk.
He later scored on a wild pitch that knotted the game at 2-2.
Hackworth produced a two-out single, but a ground ball ended Marysville’s threat.
Hackworth struck out two of the three batters he faced in the top of the sixth.
A bad-hop single by Collins was sandwiched between the punch outs.
Collins kept moving as MHS threw the ball in from the outfield. He wound up on second base.
With two down, Aden was summoned from the bullpen.
His curve ball hit nothing but dirt as Collins made the break for third.
Marchetti bounced up from his catcher’s crouch and pounced on the baseball.
He rifled it to Springs at third for the final out of the frame.
With the score tied, Aden was still the Monarchs’ pitcher of record when they plated the go-ahead run in the bottom of the sixth.
It came against London relief pitcher Connor Lacey, who was tagged with the loss.
Lacey got the first out on a flyball.
With one down, Martino legged out an infield hit.
He was replaced at first by pinch-runner Isaiah Brooks.
Brooks took second on a wild pitch before a ground ball produced MHS’ second out.
Brooks then went to third on the second balk of the game called on Red Raider hurlers.
Canyon Gladstone singled in Brooks for MHS’ 3-2 edge.
Marchetti walked to put runners on first and second.
Lacey, however, coaxed a fly ball out to end the Monarchs’ threat.
Martino, Marysville’s second lefty of the game, fanned the side in the top of the seventh to end the game.
Marysville’s bats produced only five hits and the defense committed four errors.
“London’s starting pitcher did a good job of mixing things up on us,” said Blake.
“We normally don’t make a lot of errors, but we were able to find a way to win the game.”
London 002 000 0-2 3 0
MHS 001 011 x-3 5 4
WP: Aden
LP: Lacey
SV-Martino
The Monarchs improved to 11-4 with a 12-2 triumph during the nightcap of the tournament.
The Red Raiders took a 1-0 margin in the top half of the first inning.
MHS tallied three scores in the bottom of the initial frame, only to see London narrow its deficit to 3-2 after three innings.
The Monarchs crossed the plate nine times over the fourth and fifth innings to invoke the run rule
Springs scored three runs and drove in a trio of scores with a hit.
Derek Moyer and Tyler Kesterson each finished with a couple of hits.
Braiden McMahon drove in two runs and had a base hit.
Others hitting safely for the Monarchs were Scheiderer, Hackworth, Jake Fisher and Martino.
Scheiderer went the distance on the mound during the five-inning game. He yielded four hits and struck out six.
London 101 00-2 4 2
MHS 300 36-12 10 0
WP: Scheiderer