Ask Clovis East baseball head coach Ryan Smith about the virtues of Wolfpack baseball and he will give you a clear-cut answer.
“Our team will push just enough runs across the board, pitch decently and play solid defense,” Smith said. “That’s what we will do this year.”
Pitching, defense and timely hitting were all found in Clovis East’s 5-1 win over Redwood Tuesday afternoon in game 4 of the Coca-Cola Classic.
No player embodied the Wolfpack brand of baseball better than junior left fielder Vance Hamzy, who went 2-for-3 in the game with a triple and RBI double.
“I expect [Vance] to play like that all year,” Smith said. “He’s a little guy [at 5’8’’] and he plays like one and embraces it. We call him ‘Spark Plug’ because when he’s at bat or on base, something exciting is bound to happen.”
Hamzy brought excitement in the bottom of the first inning, when his triple down the left-field line electrified the Clovis East dugout.
“I use my speed to my advantage a lot of the time and it’s something a lot of guys on this team use to their advantage,” Hamzy said. “It makes us a better team.”
Hamzy would be stranded on third base, however, as Clovis East quickly hit into back-to-back groundouts to end the scoring threat.
Clovis East found better luck at bat in the second inning, when Elias Mart hit a bases-loaded, two-out single to drive in the Timberwolves’ first run of the game.
Another big inning emerged in the bottom of the third, when Tomas Canales singled, AJ Hodgerney doubled and Tyler Parker got hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out.
One batter later, Landon Pendergras drew a bases-loaded walk to drive in a run, then Alex Haider hit an RBI sacrifice fly, extending Clovis East’s lead to 3-0.
Clovis East got its bats together for one more hit parade in the bottom of the fourth inning. Elias Mart led off with a double, then scored on Hamzy’s RBI double. Hamzy scored on a Hodgerney RBI single two batters later, granting Clovis East an insurmountable 5-0 lead.
“It’s vital for any team to have one or two big innings like that,” Hamzy said. “It helps us get momentum rolling to our side and get everybody on the team hyped up.”
Redwood’s Ryan Rios hit a solo home run in the top of the 5th inning to cut into Clovis East’s lead, but Timberwolves’ reliever Dom Jimenez nailed down the final outs of the ball game to improve Clovis East’s record to 3-2 this season.
Hamzy was not the only productive Wolfpack bat Tuesday. Senior Elias Mart went 2-for-3 with a double and RBI, and Hodgerney hit 2-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI.
Overall, it took multiple bats and hands to lead the Timberwolves to victory; it was an effort right on brand with Ryan Smith’s bunch of ballplayers.
The Timberwolves play next at Bullard (2-2) on Thursday for game 5 of the Coca-Cola Classic.