The Clinton LumberKings: 2014 in Review

Clinton, IA - The Clinton LumberKings finished the 2014 season the way it began, losing to the Cedar Rapids Kernels. What happened in between, however, will forever be embedded in Clinton's 78-year baseball lore. 

The LumberKings finished 30-38 in the first half, and again finished eight under in the second half at 31-39, giving them an overall record of 61-77. With 12 games remaining in the first half, Clinton sat just 1.5 games out of the wild card, but they lost 11 of those 12 games, and finished 7.5 games off the wild card pace at the Midwest League All-Star break. In the second half, they spent just four days at or above .500, and sat in the lower half of the division for a majority of their 70 second-half affairs.

 

What Went Well 

Crazy, jaw-dropping, come-from-behind wins. Three major comebacks occurred on May 3, May 7, and June 29, all on the road, all against Western Division teams who find themselves in the playoffs. Shutout victories also came aplenty, six coming in the final month of the regular season.

May 3, at Wisconsin: The first of the improbable comebacks came on a warm, sunny, Saturday afternoon in Appleton, Wisconsin, against the Timber Rattlers. Clinton had won game one of the series by an 8-4 score, but it appeared Wisconsin was on their way to evening the series, up comfortably through five innings, 12-4, thanks to seven runs scored by the T'Rats in the bottom of the fifth. 

Down by eight with 12 outs left at the plate, Clinton began to chip away. In the sixth, Burt Reynolds tripled and scored on a groundout. In the seventh, the LumberKings sent 11 men to the plate, scored six times, and pulled within one, down 12-11. But Wisconsin tacked on an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh, and the comeback attempt seemed it would fall short.

Against Wisconsin's bullpen, Clinton went 1-2-3 in the eighth, preceding Reynolds and Christian Carmichael whom both struck out to open the ninth. Down to their final out, and final strike, Lonnie Kauppila kept Clinton alive, singling into center. Ian Miller followed suit, grounding a single by T'Rats shortstop Angel Ortega into center. Zach Shank completed the trifecta after fouling off a pair of two-strike pitches, drilling a run-scoring single to center, pulling Clinton back within one. With runners at the corners and two down, Jack Reinheimer then lofted a slicing fly ball into the right field corner, and it caromed off the wall just inches fair, giving Reinheimer a two-run triple and Clinton the lead, 14-13. Austin Wilson capped off the five-run, two-out rally with a two-run missile over the wall in left. Clinton went on to win 16-13. 

Down eight runs through five innings, only to go on and win, gave the LumberKings the sense that anything was possible if every pitch at the plate was won.

So they doubled down…four days later. 

May 7, at Burlington: After losing 10-3 in the finale at Wisconsin and splitting games one and two at Burlington, Clinton was in hopes of a 7-3 road trip. Those hopes quickly diminished in the series finale against the Bees. Burlington plated seven runs in the second off of Jose Flores, added another run in the fourth, and then knocked home nine runs in the fifth following Clinton's first score in the top half. Burlington's Ranyelmy Mendoza hammered the first pitch from Tommy Burns in the fifth over the wall in left, and Cambric Moye put the finishing touches on the frame with a two-out, grand slam off of left-hander Paul Fry. Down 17-1 through five innings, and with a two-hour plus bus trip back to Clinton at games end, swinging early in the counts was thought to be the game plan. Get the game over with, go home, and regroup for the upcoming homestand.

Sixteen runs. S-i-x-t-e-e-n. It seemed impossible. 

Again, just 12 outs remained for Clinton at the dish. With wind gusts blowing out to center near 20 MPH, the LumberKings began to feast. Six runs in the sixth off of Bees starter Garrett Nuss pulled Clinton within ten, 17-7. Nine outs remained. No runs were scored by either team in the seventh, but Clinton hung a five-spot in the eighth, highlighted by a Jeff Zimmerman two-run double, making it a five-run deficit, 17-12. Three outs stood between a win and the most remarkable, come-from-behind stunner in baseball history, or a loss, and a valiant effort that would fall short, only to be forgotten in a matter of weeks, if not days.

They chose the former. 

And again, it was Kauppila, Miller, and Shank who sparked the rally. Four straight singles, the last by Shank, made it 17-13, setting up Marcus Littlewood for a potential game-tying grand slam. With an announced 558 fans in attendance, dwindling to roughly 200 by the ninth, Burlington brought in their closer Alan Busenitz, hoping to fend off the wrong end of history. Battling with Busenitz, Littlewood hammered a 2-1 offering deep into the night sky, clearing the wall in center.

Clinton's colossal comeback was completed in the 12^th inning where they scored three runs, the go-ahead tally coming home on a run-scoring groundout by Justin Seager. Out of pitchers, Manager Scott Steinmann used his starting second baseman Kauppila - who went 3-for-6 with 3 RBI, including a clutch two-out, two-run single in the top half - for the bottom of the 12^th as his closer. And Kauppila, making his first professional appearance on the mound, sat down the Bees 1-2-3, the last on a foul out to Littlewood behind the plate. 

Game over. The "Comeback Kings" had done it again. The biggest media outlets came calling including ESPN, Sports Illustrated, Yahoo, CBS Sports Seattle, Good Morning America, Deadspin.com, among many other regional and local TV and radio stations.

June 29, at Cedar Rapids: After the media hoopla died down, it took Clinton just over seven weeks to complete another stunning road comeback. At Cedar Rapids on a windy, Sunday afternoon, the LumberKings' offense had shown no signs of life. Against Kernels right-handers Ethan Mildren and Dallas Gallant, Clinton had a total of five batters reach (four hits, one walk) over eight innings. Trailing 4-0 entering the top of the ninth, the LumberKings could've easily packed it in and called it a day, but for the third time in 2014, the team sent the home fans up the stairs in utter silence. 

Slim hopes diminished even more when Cedar Rapids brought on flame-throwing closer Nick Burdi, Minnesota's 2014 second round pick, for his professional debut. Burdi, who had touched 102 MPH throughout his collegiate career at Louisville, couldn't overcome first-game jitters, walking all four batters he faced on 21 total pitches. Kernels Manager Jake Mauer then called upon another right-hander, Jared Wilson, who didn't fare much better.

Seager greeted Wilson with a RBI single to make it 4-2, and Isaiah Yates followed with a bases-loaded walk to make it 4-3. After Wilson struck out Corey Simpson for the first out, Christian Carmichael cranked a grand slam to left, capping the seven-run ninth which gave Clinton their eventual 7-4 win. 

Hanging Zeroes: Clinton recorded a league-high 13 shutout victories, one more than Dayton, Kane County, and Peoria. Eight occurred in the second half, six being in the month of August. Edwin Diaz was the lone LumberKing to go the distance in one of those shutouts, throwing a three-hitter at Burlington on August 3 (a 1-0 Clinton win), needing just 88 pitches to do so.

 

What Went Wrong 

Losing is one thing, but losing close games is another. Losing on the road is one thing, but losing far more games than won at home, is another. The LumberKings also avoided the injury bug for the first month of the season. When the first bug bit, however, it was a full-steam plague for the following month-and-a-half.

One-run Games: Clinton finished the 2014 season with a 15-25 record in one-run contests, including a stretch (May 31-July 2) where they lost nine consecutive games by a single run. Their 15 victories by one run accounted for the fewest in the league, and their 25 losses by that same margin was the fifth most. Their winning percentage of .375 in one-run games was their worst mark dating back to 2005. 

Home, not-so-sweet, Home: The LumberKings struggles at home played a large part in their first playoff absence since 2009. They finished 13-20 at home in the first half and 14-21 over the second half, good for a 27-41 mark for the season at Ashford University Field. Fourteen games under was the worst mark in the league, trailing Bowling Green and Beloit whom both finished nine games under at their home parks. Clinton hit .239 collectively at home with 34 home runs while averaging 3.68 runs per game (250 R/68 G). Meanwhile, on the road, the LumberKings finished 17-18 in each half, hit .264 as a team with 44 homers, and averaged 5.01 runs per contest (351 R/70 G).

Another one bites the dust: When on the outside looking in at the playoffs, instead of participating in them, there will always be statements made that begin with the word, "If." It's safe to say that if the LumberKings had stayed relatively healthy, including the likes of everyday outfielders Ian Miller, Tyler O'Neill, and Austin Wilson, and opening day third baseman Joe DeCarlo, they could've been one of the premier teams in the league. 

The loss of Miller's speed atop the order hurt, but Aaron Barbosa filled in admirably and went on to steal 42 bases, fifth most in the league. The absences of the big three (Wilson, O'Neill, DeCarlo), hurt much greater, leaving minimal power in the heart of the order.

In total, Miller missed two-and-a-half months, O'Neill was on the shelf for a near three months, Wilson spent almost nine weeks on the disabled list, and DeCarlo rehabbed in Arizona for virtually seven weeks. 

Other members that saw time on the disabled list included: Martin Peguero (two weeks), Thyago Vieira (injured June 8, out for season), and Tommy Burns (injured early July, out for season).

 

What to Remember

Fan frustration is apparent with any team that fails to win, reach the playoffs, or even win championships. It's the short-term memory that sports fans have. As we reflect on the 2014 season, don't think about the home woes and close losses. Instead, remember the comebacks, the never-say-die attitude the team had on full display from start to finish, and remember that someday, a handful of the 2014 LumberKings will soon be donning a uniform in the big leagues. And that they came through Clinton, to get there.