Western Hangs On, Beats Anaheim

Western scored in each of the first three innings and then held on to beat Anaheim, 5-3, Friday night at Glover Stadium to maintain first place in the Orange League.

Jordan Clark threw 134 pitches in a complete-game victory, working his way in and out of several jams.

Anaheim (9-7, 5-4) got a run-scoring single by Travis Caloca to pull to within two runs in the seventh inning and then loaded the bases with two out. Clark then got Ramiro Gonzalez to hit a ground ball that was juggled by shortstop Daniel Jorgensen before he threw to second baseman Andre Granda to get the sliding Caloca for the final out.

“I lost it a few times, but our defense was great,” Clark said. “It [the pitch count] was hard on me, but we went through a lot of pitchers on Wednesday.”

Things were going smoothly for Western (10-5, 7-2) at the outset.

The Pioneers scored in the first on a RBI triple by Rick Devinney and then scored three more runs in the second. Clark had a sacrifice fly, Jorgensen drove in a run with a double and and Kyle Stanley singled in Jorgensen. Western got their final run in the third inning when Chris Jackson hit a home run to left-center.

Clark was sailing along, giving up only two hits through four innings.

In the fifth, after striking out the first two batters, he walked Anaheim’s Obed Garcia, who eventually scored on a double by Steve Salazar. The Colonists loaded the bases and scored when Clark walked Jose Carrillo to force in a run.

Clark gave up three walks and seven of Anaheim’s 10 hits in the last three innings.

“Jordan battled,” Western Coach Steve Green said. “He’s our best pitcher and we were going to win or lose with him.

Said Clark: “All the guys were thinking about was holding the league lead and we did it.”