Littell shines in LumberKings' three-hitter

It took Zack Littell an inning to get going on Sunday. After that, he was almost untouchable.

The Mariners prospect gave up three hits and struck out nine over eight innings as Class A Clinton blanked Beloit, 1-0, at Ashford University Field.

Littell (4-4) said things didn't feel right early on as he battled control issues. His defense helped settle him down, turning a double play after Trace Loehr reached on an error leading off the game.

"Coming out, my timing felt a little bit off," Littell said. "I felt it in the bullpen and tried to kind of get it down. I came out on the mound and the first couple batters I threw some pitches that weren't exactly where I wanted.

"[The double play] was big. Being able to stop the rally before it gets started is huge, and having defense behind me like I did today was awesome."

The 20-year-old right-hander reigned in his command by the second and faced the minimum over the next seven innings. Beloit managed two hits -- Edwin Diaz's single in the third and Mike Martin's single in the sixth -- but Littell erased both runners on pickoffs.

"I just started focusing on getting ahead of hitters and throwing that first strike," the 2013 11th-round pick said. "After that, it was easy. I was just trying to get ahead, get that first strike, get ahead in the count and let my defense work."

The nine strikeouts pushed Littell's total to a Midwest League-leading 76, one behind West Virginia's Jonathan Brubaker for tops in Class A. The North Carolina native attributed his swing-and-miss stuff to battling for that first strike.

"We talk a lot as a staff that 70 percent of strikeouts start with an 0-1 count," Littell said. "So I'm just trying to get to that 0-1 count and go from there, staying ahead in the count, not falling behind and just attacking hitters."

That approach has helped Littell improve in nearly every statistical category in his second Midwest League season. 

"Definitely the best [start] this year," he said. "I felt great. We played phenomenal defense and their starter [Evan Manarino] threw well, but we finally scratched across a run. It was just a good team win. We needed to win that game."

Ronald Dominguez fanned one in a perfect ninth to pick up his second save and nail down the LumberKings' eighth shutout of the season.

Top Mariners prospect Alex Jackson went 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles and scored on Taylor's single for Clinton. 

Manarino (5-2) allowed a run on six hits and a walk while fanning six over seven innings for the Snappers.