UTICA - - After concluding the regular season in a tight 7-5 win over Poynette on Tuesday, May 21, the Cambridge baseball team found themselves in another tight battle with the Pumas on Wednesday at Utica Park.
However, if you watched Clayton Stenjem on the mound, you couldn’t tell what the score was.
With Cambridge holding a 2-1 lead after the fourth inning, the junior pitcher retired the last nine Poynette batters in order to advance the Blue Jays to the regional championship game on Thursday.
Stenjem worked quickly and efficiently through the Pumas lineup, recording 12 strikeouts and holding Poynette to just four hits in a complete game win.
The closest Poynette got to a big inning was in the third inning when the Pumas loaded the bases with nobody out. Stenjem recorded a groundout from Chase Maier, which scored Wyatt Breuch, but got the first out.
With runners at second and third, Stenjem got a lineout and a fly out to escape the jam with just one run allowed. From there, Stenjem allowed only one runner to reach scoring position for the rest of the game.
Poynette’s Justin Wells hit a double in the fourth with one out, but Stenjem recorded back-to-back strikeouts to not allow a run.
From the fifth through seventh innings, Stenjem recorded four strikeouts as Cambridge held its one-run lead.
The Cambridge offense did just enough to support the efforts of Stenjem. After junior Kiefer Parish led off the bottom of the first inning with a triple, Stenjem knocked in Parish on a groundout.
After Poynette tied the game at the top of the third inning, the Blue Jays rallied with two outs in the fourth. Sophomore Jett Horton hit a single and then advanced to second on a wild pitch.
Senior Devin Schuchart then hit an RBI single on a 3-0 pitch to score Horton and give Cambridge the 2-1 lead.
With the win, Cambridge (16-5) advances to the regional championship game and will face New Glarus (17-3) on Thursday at CHS. The Blue Jays swept the regular season series against the Glarner Knights.
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