The Chester Junior-Senior High School Volcanoes baseball team hosted the Quincy Trojans in a double hitter April 12. The front end of the double dip was a league game, and the back end was a nonleague game. The Vols entered the games with a four-game winning streak at 7-4 overall and 1-0 in league play.
In the first game the Vols prevailed 5-4 in seven innings on a complete game performance by Lucas Klimek on the mound. Klimek gave up four runs on seven hits and three earned runs, striking out four and walking four, on 102 pitches. Klimek improved to 2-1 with this performance.
What assistant coach George Wellman called “a tightly contested game well played by both teams” ended in the bottom of seventh with Caiden Clark driving in Lucas Klimek on a line drive single to left field. Caiden Clark finished the day going 1 for 3 at the plate, with a walk and one RBI, and scoring one run. Brother Chase Clark contributed two hits on four at-bats with one RBI.
Jacob Dowling drove in two key runs, going 1-3 with a double and scoring a run. Trent Tissot and Kooper Clark each contributed a hit. Callan Wiseman, Lucas Klimek and Jax Holland each scored a run.
Wellman said the Vols defense recorded 17 putouts and eight assists of errorless ball over the seven innings, providing outstanding support to Lucas Klimek’s stellar pitching performance. An example of the defensive effort was the execution of the final out in the bottom of the seventh inning. Catcher Kooper Clark fired a strike to Jax Holland covering second base to record the final out of the game.
The Vols’ record extended to 8-4 with this victory.
Game 2
In the second game of the double hitter, a nonleague game, the Vols and Trojans battled it out in a high-scoring matchup. The lead changed hands four times in the five-inning contest, with the Vols prevailing 12-10 with a walk-off three-run home run by Jax Holland in the bottom of the fifth inning.
The Vols jumped out to a 9-6 lead after three innings of offensive baseball by both teams. In the first two innings Callan Wiseman and Jacob Dowling each drove in two runs, Wiseman with a double and Dowling singling. Chase Clark led the way in the third inning with a three-run home run, driving in Trent Tissot and Grady Klimek, that preceded Clark’s at-bat with two walks.
Quincy did not go away, plating six runs on five hits over three innings, challenging the Vols inning by inning. The Quincy Trojans held the Vols scoreless in the fourth inning and rallied for four runs in the top of the fifth to take a 10-9 lead. The stage was set for the Vols, trailing by a run, to gut it out and capture the win.
Grady Kilmek lead off the bottom of the fifth with a double, followed by Kooper Clark working a base on balls. The Trojans stiffened, getting two outs on fly balls. Two outs and down by a run, Jax Holland stepped up and on a 2-2 count cracked a walk-off home run to left-center field driving in three runs.
Wellman reported the Vols escaped with an exciting 12-10 victory and moved to 9-4 overall and 3-0 in league play.
In addition to Chase Clark’s and Jax Holland’s home runs, each with three RBIs, Jacob Dowling contributed three RBIs on a single and a fielder’s choice. Chase Clark also added a single to his day’s work, going 2-3 with one walk and scoring three runs. Callan Wiseman and Grady Klimek both smacked doubles, Wiseman driving in one run. Trent Tissot and Grady Klimek each walked twice and scored a combined three runs. Lucas Klimek and Kooper Clark had one walk apiece and scored a run.
For more details about the team, including game and season statistics, visit https://www.maxpreps.com/ca/chester/chester-volcanoes/baseball/.
Information provided by Chester Junior-Senior High School baseball team
