Belmont's Jeff Clarke comes thru in clutch for Catfish's 11th straight win

Monday night’s matchup between the Cape Catfish and the Thrillville Thrillbillies had a flare for the dramatic.

With the Catfish trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the 8th, Jeff Clarke (Belmont) stepped to the plate with runners on first and second and nobody out.

What transpired next certainly didn’t lack entertainment.

Clarke would square to bunt on the first pitch and was hit in the helmet— but it was ruled it hit the bat first.

“After you get hit in the head you have a little bit of anger,” Clarke said. “You have to try and take that out on the ball.”

After falling behind 1-2 the Thrillbillies thought they had punched Clarke out on strikes, but it was ruled the count was incorrect and Clarke stayed in the box.

Clarke, who was attempting to sacrifice at the beginning of the at-bat, then ripped a 2-run triple down the left field line to give the Catfish a 2-1 lead.

“It’s not what I expected,” Clarke said. “I’m grateful that we stole the bag and I had the opportunity too. My approach varied a lot during that at-bat.”

The Catfish would tack on one more run to win 3-1.

Seemingly all night the Catfish bats struggled to get something going but the crowd support never wavered.

“We have a lot of support,” Clarke said. “These fans are awesome and we feed off them. All of our energy comes from them and when they turn it up we do too.”

Breven Yarbro got the start for the Catfish as he tossed 4 innings allowing 1 run on 2 hits.

The lone Thrillbillies run came in the top of the 3rd when Kaleb Herbert singled home Bryce Toci.

Raymond Ochoa, Kole Turner and Jordan Riley would combine to finish out the game while holding the Thrillbillies to just 1 run.

“Our pitching is fueling this (win streak),” Clarke said. “If they keep putting up zeroes it makes it easy for us. If we’re down by 5 there it’s a different game. Our pitching staff has been huge.”

Getting the start for the Thrillbillies was Ryan Daly who tossed 5 innings allowing 0 runs on 3 hits.

The Catfish were led by Clarke who went 1-for-3 with a run scored and 2 RBIs.

Justin Carinci went 2-for-4 at the plate in the win for the Catfish.

The Catfish (11-0) are back in action at 6:35 p.m. Tuesday, June 13, when they host the Jackson (Tenn.) Rockabillys at Capaha Park.