LAFAYETTE — Lyons senior Austen Clark knew on Monday afternoon that the chances of the Lions facing Dawson School again this season were pretty good, with Class 2A district play certainly a likely setting.
He also knows the game of baseball is unpredictable, so he measured his own effort at the Dawson field through the lens of it possibly being the last time he’d ever pitch against the Mustangs — a regional rivalry that also includes, of late, impactful teams on the state level and in the Mile High League.
With the backing of an offense that produced 11 hits and that took advantage of a few Dawson errors, Clark limited a pretty good Dawson lineup for five innings while the Lions built a rather large lead in what would turn out to be a 10-6 win for the visitors.
Lyons improved to 12-2 overall and won its second straight game after falling to front-running Highland early last week. For Clark, Monday represented a bounce-back from that loss to the Huskies, and it was his curveball that really kept hitters off balance.
“We did great, just coming out aggressive to score runs early and then when they scored a couple runs we were able to come right back at them,” Clark said after collecting his fourth win. “The last inning was a little rough, but we were able to hang on for the win. That’s what’s important.
“This was an important game, and we knew we had to win it to put us in a good position going forward.”
Clark has been trying to mix speeds on his curveball since the beginning of the season to complement a fastball that can ride into the 80-mph range. Against the Mustangs (8-5), it resulted in allowing just two unearned runs on three hits and five strikeouts in his five innings of work.
“That curve has been working for him lately, for sure,” added Lyons coach Ken Rosales, now 5-1 in the MHL. “He’s been working that into his count, and usually when he gets ahead, you’d better be ready because it’s coming at some point.”
Both teams went in opposite directions as soon as the first inning, even with Dawson’s Chase Fulkerson pitching well.
Evan Reeves cleared the bases with a double to make it 3-0 early, but Lyons would not score again until the fifth inning when they made it 5-0 after base hits from Leif Klopson (who had three hits for the game), Clark and Brandon Sanders.
Dawson committed five errors for the game, and three of those came in the final two innings of play to help Lyons score five more runs. Lyons had its own problems closing out the game as Dawson used four hits and a couple of throwing errors to plate four runs.
All in all, though, Clark and Rosales were pleased with emerging from this tough matchup victorious.
“We knew we were going to get a game, because it always is no matter what we have or what they have,” Rosales said. “Very satisfied with the way we produced. We lost some focus but came back and got it done.”
“(Fulkerson) is a good pitcher, but we just kept battling and giving him tough at-bats,” Clark said. “We got a lot of guys on base and were able to score some big runs.”
Dawson finished with seven hits — five of those coming from the top of the order and Donovan Muniz, Fulkerson and Tucker Heroux.
Adam Dunivan: dunivana@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/AdamDunivan24
Lyons 10, Dawson School 6
At Dawson School
Lyons300 021 4 — 10 11 4
Dawson000 020 4 — 6 7 5
W — Austen Clark. L — Chase Fulkerson.
Lyons hitting (ab-r-h-rbi) — Joe McCain 5-2-2-0, Leif Klopson 5-3-3-2, Rafael Ruiz 0-0-0-0, Justin Lear 2-1-1-2, Austen Clark 4-1-2-0, Sean Stevelinck 0-0-0-0, Evan Reeves 4-0-1-3, Brandon Sanders 4-0-1-1, Keegan Bean 4-1-1-0, Drew Cross 2-1-0-0, Colton Bashor 3-0-0-0, Aidan Christiansen 1-1-0-0. Totals 34-10-11-8. 2B —Reeves, Klopson 2. SB —McCain, Christiansen 2, Sanders, Lear.
Dawson School hitting (ab-r-h-rbi) — Donovan Muniz 3-1-1-0, Chase Fulkerson 4-1-2-0, Tucker Heroux 4-1-2-1, Daniel Gayten-Cerna 3-1-0-1, Eli Merritt 4-0-1-0, Brandon Day 3-0-0-0, Evan Moll 2-0-0-0, Simon Dodge 3-1-1-0, Tommy Noonan 2-0-0-0, Nate Bernstein 0-1-0-0. 2B — Fulkerson. SB —Day.
Lyons pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — Clark 5-3-2-0-4-5, Sanders 2-4-4-2-1-5.
Dawson School pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — Fulkerson 5-5-5-4-2-5, Moll 2-6-5-3-2-2.
