Bulldogs Baseball Drop Double Header Against Clear Lake

Hampton-Dumont-CAL lost both games of a double header to the Clear Lake Lions at home on Wednesday, May 21. In what was supposed to be another away trip for the Bulldogs, the games ended up being moved from Clear Lake to Hampton due to the Clear Lake baseball field being unplayable. It was the second and third game of the season for the Bulldogs after dropping their season opener to the Fort Dodge Dodgers. In game one the Bulldogs lost 3-0. Starting pitcher for game one, senior Jaxon Moats, would have a very solid start, pitching all six innings, allowing three runs on nine hits while striking out four Lions batters. However none of the runs Moats gave up were earned, as the Bulldogs defense would make a couple of errors leading to all the Lions runs. Head coach of the Bulldogs Mike Lokenvits discussed Moats performance in game one. 

“Moats did a great job of limiting damage when we got into trouble,” said Lokenvits. “A complete game under 90 pitches in high school is a really nice outing. Unfortunately for him we could not capitalize and push across any runs.”

Clear Lake would play as the home team and score two runs in the bottom of the first inning and added one more run in the fourth inning to take the game 3-0. 

In the second game of the double header the Bulldogs lost 7-0. Dawson Wiekert would toe the rubber for the Bulldogs to start the game. Wiekert would also have a solid outing pitching five and two-thirds innings, allowing five runs on five hits and three walks while striking out seven. Only three of Wiekert's five runs given up were earned due to errors committed by the Bulldogs leading to two of the Lions runs. Coach Lokevits liked what he saw from Wiekert, but also spoke on some things he could improve on. 

“Dawson also pitched well, but even he would tell you we need to cut down on the walks and pitch ahead a little more,” he said. “Overall I was happy with the pitching staff.”

The Lions, playing as the away team in game two, scored two in the top of the second inning, one in the top of the third inning, two in the top of the sixth inning and would add one more run in the top of the seventh inning. The losses moved the Bulldogs record to 0-3 on the young season. Coach Lokenvits spoke on how his team can shake off the first three games of the season. 

“We will get more comfortable in the box and start scoring runs,” he said. “When we start doing that we will start stacking wins.”

The Bulldogs lost their next game to Roland-Story 12-0 on Thursday, May 22 and they competed in a home double header versus Iowa-Falls Alden on Tuesday May 27. Their next game is a home game versus North Polk on Friday, May 30 at 5:30 p.m.