Pat Harty

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – At this point in the season, Cam Miller is a freshman only by his grade in school because once he steps foot on the mound he acts more like a seasoned veteran.

His latest example was Thursday’s performance against Clear Creek Amana in which Miller allowed just four hits and one unearned run over 6 2/3 innings.

The score was tied 1-1 when Miller was pulled from the game with two outs in the seventh inning because of the pitch-count rule that prohibits a freshman from throwing more than 90 pitches.

Sophomore Ryan Geistkemper finished the game in relief for Solon and also drove in the game-winning run with a single in the bottom of the eighth.

“That was a big hit, a sophomore coming in and having a walk-off and giving us that pitching performance,” McSweeney said of Geistkemper.

Miller’s performance, which included four strikeouts and just two walks, came a day after the Spartans were crushed by second-ranked Davenport Assumption 19-0 in four innings on Wednesday.

“Cam has just been really good this year,” McSweeney said. “He keeps the ball down. He just competes and we really needed that effort.

“Every time he’s come up, it’s been very timely for us.”

Miller has to be efficient when he takes the mound because of the pitch-count for freshmen, which is 20 fewer than the 110-pitch count limit for seniors, juniors and sophomores.

“It doesn’t matter if they’re a varsity player,” McSweeney said. “But he’s been able to get right to that number in most games.”

Both teams scored one run apiece in the first inning of game one.

The Spartans came out swinging against Clear Creek starter Kobey Schlotman with each of Solon’s first three batters making solid contact.

Junior Tyler Linderbaum smacked a double to right center and then scored on a single by Adam Bock.

Schlotman then found his groove and allowed just three hits until being replaced by Cody Ogden in the eighth inning. Schlotman also finished with nine strikeouts and three walks before having to leave the game because of the pitch-count rule.

Solon designated hitter Zach Wegmann reached based on an error with two outs in the eighth inning,  He advanced to third on a single by Payton Bandy before scoring the game-winning run on Geistkemper’s single to centerfield.

McSweeney was pleased with how his team bounced back from a sobering defeat the night before.

“Things snowballed on us last night,” McSweeney said. “We were playing a real good team. After they knocked out starter we were kind of piecing together a rotation with three games left in the week.

“So it was big to bounce back, especially in a close game where both teams had to baseball it. We were lucky, we got all that with two outs in the seventh. We stayed with it and we got Schlotman out of the game with a pitch and we were able to capitalize on that.” 

The second game was stopped after three innings because of lightning with Clear Creek leading 6-1. The Clippers seized the momentum right away in the second game by scoring five runs in the top of the first inning against Linderbaum.

Game 1

Clear Creek     100  000  00  –  1  5  0

Solon               100  000  01  –  2  8  1

Kobey Schlotman, Cody Ogden (8) and David Jensen, T.J. Bollers; Cam Miller, Ryan Geistkemper (7) and Adam Bock.

W – Ryan Geistkemper, L – Koeby Schlotman.