Baseball Recap: Clear Lake Extends Winning Streak to Six

Cardinals

Margin (Wins)

05/16/25 vs Lower Lake	16
05/09/25 @ Lower Lake	15
04/25/25 vs Upper Lake	10
04/18/25 @ Middletown	10
04/01/25 @ Upper Lake	10

Two teams were on the hunt for playoff glory, but only Clear Lake walked away with it. Everything went their way against the St. Helena Saints on Wednesday as they made off with an 8-1 victory. The result was nothing new for the Cardinals, who have now won ten matches by six runs or more so far this season.

Sawyer Smith made a big impact no matter where he played. He looked comfortable on the mound, striking out 13 batters over seven innings while giving up just one earned run off seven hits (and not a single walk). Those 13 strikeouts gave him a new career-high. He was also big at the plate, getting on base in all four of his plate appearances with two stolen bases, one run, and one RBI.

In other batting news, Zane Mcauley and Jesse Hayes did most of the damage at the plate: Mcauley went 2-for-4 with two stolen bases, one run, and one RBI, while Hayes went 2-for-4 with one stolen base, two RBI, and one run. That's the most stolen bases Mcauley has posted since back in April. David Cruz JR was another key player, going 2-for-3 with one stolen base, one run, and one RBI.

Clear Lake always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .543. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as St. Helena only posted an OBP of .222.

The win was the sixth in a row for Clear Lake, bringing their record up to 17-5. The victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 3.0 runs on average over those games. As for St. Helena, their defeat ended a six-game streak of away wins and brought them to 18-7.

Coming up, Clear Lake will take on Berean Christian at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (the Cardinals 3.6, the Eagles 4) so any runs scored will be well earned. St. Helena does not have any more games scheduled as of now.