Clark’s perfect day lifts Stagg by Cards
Updated: May 23, 2011 9:55PM
Stagg held a home run derby at practice on Saturday, with Brad Clark clubbing a team-high 13 round-trippers.
The senior carried his home run swing into Monday’s Class 4A St. Laurence Regional play-in game against Eisenhower.
Clark was 5-for-5 on the day, including two home runs, to lead Stagg to a 14-5 win against the Cardinals in Palos Hills.
The Chargers (13-17) advance to play the host Vikings Wednesday in Burbank.
“The home run derby helped me out a lot,” said Clark, who now has four home runs on the season. “I got to take a lot of reps swinging on Saturday and I memorized how I was swinging for today.”
Clark led off Stagg’s four-run first inning with a solo homer to center field. He followed with another solo round-tripper during a three-run second that saw the Chargers extend their lead to 7-2.
He singled in the third, doubled home a run in the fourth and, needing a triple to record the cycle, added a single in the sixth.
“I knew the first one (homer) was gone and the second one was kind of cheap,” Clark said. “I was trying for a triple on my last at-bat.”
Dan Ahern (3-for-4, 2 RBI), Mike Farnan (2-for-4) and Kyle Belluomini (2-for-5, RBI) each had multiple hit days for Stagg, which registered 16 hits.
Steve Kubiak and Angelo Angelos drove in two runs apiece for the Chargers.
Scott Fewkes picked up the win on the mound with five innings of work, striking out three.
Clark hopes the offense can produce a repeat performance on Wednesday and atone for an earlier 10-6 defeat to St. Laurence.
“We’ve been on and off all year,” said Clark, who will get the start on the mound. “When we hit, we can pretty much beat anyone.”
Hitting wasn’t a problem for Eisenhower (7-17), which recorded 13 hits. Getting timely hits, however, proved to be difficult.
The Cardinals left the bases loaded twice and stranded 12 runners on the day.
Gino Spizzirri (2-for-5), Jerry Keys (3-for-4), Levine Jackson (2-for-3, RBI) and Nick Castro (two-run double) led Ike.
“We had the bases loaded and one out twice and didn’t get a guy in either time,” Cardinal coach Ken McNulty said. “You can’t do that against a quality team.”
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