Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – Every athlete dreams of a perfect senior night.

Senior night at Solon started off as more of a nightmare on Thursday afternoon but it was three of the Spartan seniors that got things back on track in the nightcap.

After dropping game one of a WAMAC Conference doubleheader with Clear Creek Amana 19-9 in five innings Solon seniors combined for six hits in a 6-3 win over the Clippers in game two.

“Coach didn’t have to say a lot, we all knew what happened in that first game,” Solon senior Nolan Seagren said. “It was just about battling adversity. This whole year it’s been about how do you come back from things like that. It was really nice to see us come back and handle adversity like we did.”

Seagren and fellow seniors Ty Bell and Jackson Link all had two hits in the 6-3 win in game two as Solon improved to 18-12 on the season.

The senior offensive punch backed up a strong outing by sophomore Luke Deike who allowed two runs on seven hits while striking out seven in six innings.

“We wanted to battle back,” Link said. “We had to flush everything that had happened before and we know that they are a good team but we knew we could beat them and the second game we played a lot cleaner and a lot better.”

Link took the loss in the 19-9 loss in game one, lasting just three innings while allowing 11 runs on 10 hits.

Bell and Seagren followed on the mound and allowed a combined seven runs on four hits in one inning.

The trio refused to allow their senior night to be spoiled.

“It was good to battle back, coach (Keith) McSweeney has been preaching that these last few games are all preparation for next Friday,” Link said. “It was really good to bounce back and get a good win against a good team.”

Bell got the Solon offense going early.

After Clear Creek Amana scored a pair of runs in the top of the first inning the Spartan answered as Bell tied the game with a two-out, two-run double to left field.

Link gave Solon the lead for good with a solo home run to lead off the second.

Link lined a 1-0 pitch from Clear Creek Amana starter Reece Cochran over the left field fence for his second career home run.

“Coach (Michael) Pipolo said that Cochrane hadn’t had a 2-0 count all game so when he threw that first ball I was looking for one pitch,” Link said. “He left it over the plate and I put a good swing on it.”

Seagren added to the lead in the fourth when he lined a two-strike pitch to left field for an RBI single after Link doubled to right.

“I got down 0-2 and I had to lock in and put something in play,” Seagren said. “I put the barrel and the ball and it got through thankfully.”

Link finished 2-for-2 with a run scored and an RBI, Seagren had two hits drove in a run and scored a run and Bell had two hits, scored a run and drove in three.

Solon senior Beau Mullen was 1-for-2 with a double and a run scored in the 19-9 loss in game one.

Game 1

Clear Creek Amana              043  (11)1  –  19  16  4

Solon                                      050    22     –   9   11  1                      

W – Robert Meade                             L – Jackson Link

2B – SOL: Beau Mullen, Carson Kidwell, Luke Merrick

HR – CCA: Reece Cochran, Robert Meade

Game 2

Clear Creek Amana              200  000  1  –  3  10  4           

Solon                                      210  120  x  –  6   7   1

W – Luke Deike                                 L – Reece Cochran

2B – SOL: Jackson Link, Nolan Seagren, Ty Bell. CCA: Robert Meade

HR – SOL: Jackson Link.

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