clips take 2 of 3 from joes
Muskegon, MI — The Muskegon Clippers came home for a three-game series over the weekend to host the Hamilton Joes.
They played well defensively and kept the hot hitting going on their way to a 2-1 series win. That marked the second series win for the club following a tough couple of series. The first series win came on opening weekend when they defeated the Michigan Monarchs two games to one.
The series featured the opener on Friday and a doubleheader on Saturday. The Clips came out victorious on Friday night with a 12-6 win. Then on Saturday, the two squads split the twin-bill in two of the most exciting games Muskegon has played all season. The Joes won game one 5-4, but the Clips were able to salvage game two with a 5-3 win.
GAME ONE
The series opener was a group effort from Muskegon. The Clips used five different pitchers in the win. Tyler Finkbeiner was the opener and had trouble finding the strike zone. The lengthy right-hander tossed just 1.1 innings, allowing two runs on six walks.
Caden Thelen continued his hot hitting when he blasted a three-run home run over the left-field wall. Heading into the third, Muskegon led 3-2 after the Joes got on the board with a two-RBI single.
It was the third inning when Muskegon posted eight runs and sent 12 hitters to the plate. The club kept moving down the order after RBI doubles from Justin St. Antoine and Nolan Laskey.
Drew Diehl, Josh Rosenblitt, and Zane Gregg each came into the game out of the bullpen for skipper Brian Wright. They combined for 3.1 innings, allowing four runs.
Muskegon led 11-6 at this point and called upon Maddux Kipling on the mound. He was dominant as he tossed three no-hit innings while also recording five strikeouts.
Nolan Laskey added insurance in the eighth with a solo homer.
GAME TWO
The middle game of the series is one the Clippers would like to have back. Zander Wills got the nod on the mound for his third start of the season. Wills dominated through the first three frames, striking out a handful of Joes batters.
One run did come across to score in the fourth off Wills, but it was unearned. He finished his day with a final line of four innings, four hits, and eight punch-outs.
The bats for the Clippers didn’t wake up until the sixth. Ben Meyers launched his first homer of the season to put Muskegon back in the game. It was a two-run shot that cut the Hamilton lead to just one run after six innings.
Inch by inch, the Clips mounted a seventh-inning comeback to even the score at 3 apiece. Since it was a doubleheader, both squads played two seven-inning games, putting the first into extra innings.
Three straight free passes given up from the Clippers bullpen in the eighth led to two Hamilton runs, putting them up 5-3. The Clips were able to muster one run in the bottom half, but that was all, setting up a rubber match in game two.
GAME THREE
The nightcap didn’t initially go to plan after Hamilton crossed the plate three times in the first inning.
After that, however, Brady Young began to shine on the mound. He tossed five straight scoreless innings as the starter for Muskegon.
Offensively, it was another slow start for Muskegon, as its first run did not come until the fifth inning.
It was a slew of hits from Thelen and Meyers, who became the heroes of Saturday as they each recorded RBIs to put the Clips on top late in the game, 5-3.
Young entered the seventh inning and was able to strike out the first two hitters. A two-out single, however, meant Young’s day was over. He finished the night with 10 strikeouts, allowing just three runs.
Things got a little dicey when Michael Sime came in and walked a few hitters, but Andrew Pohlmann, who recently hurled a brilliant eight innings on Tuesday, entered out of the pen and slammed the door in an electrifying game three win.
The Clips are starting to find their stride in 2026 and will head to Southern Ohio for a three-game series against the Copperheads on Tuesday.