Clawson Baseball Rallies to Beat Royal Oak 7-5

Rain did nothing to dampen the intensity of the border battle between the Clawson and Royal Oak varsity baseball teams Saturday morning in the opening round of the Charles H. Jones Baseball Tournament at .

The Clawson Trojans erased a four-run deficit and came storming back to win 7-5 to advance to the next round.

“That’s a great win for our program,” Clawson coach Ralph Haney said. “To play a Class A school and be competitive, it’s a great thing for our program. We’ve been struggling with a lot of young guys, so this is great day, great game for Clawson.” 

Clawson (6-10) has only one senior on its roster and has taken its lumps this season. Early in the game Saturday, it looked like the Trojans might be in for another tough game. Clawson starting pitcher Billy Feldbush allowed Royal Oak to get out to a quick 4-0 lead in the top of the first.   

“We’ve just been starting out really tough, walking people and getting a few errors,” Haney said.

The pattern didn’t continue for Clawson on Saturday, though. Feldbush settled down and only allowed one run after the first. Royal Oak managed to get two runners on base in both the third and fourth innings, but Feldbush worked out of trouble.

“Once Billy settled down, he pitched a great game,” Haney said.  "He could only pitch six innings today, and he gave us a solid six innings."

The Ravens (8-11 overall, 1-7 Oakland Activities Association) also loaded the bases in the seventh inning against Clawson’s closer, Jake Smith. Hunter Kosnick flied out to center to end the game and leave all three men stranded. 

“We needed a key hit,” Royal Oak coach Chris Lau said. “We just didn’t get that one hit to push runs across in the middle innings, and that’s the ballgame."

The only hit with runners in scoring position for the Ravens after the first was an RBI single by Nick Czajkowski in the fifth. Lau said his team wasn’t aggressive enough after jumping out to the early lead.

“I think we did get a little relaxed. We jumped out early and didn’t have timely hitting,” Lau said. “Kudos to them, they put the ball in play and beat us.”

The highlight for the Trojans was a blast by Edrey O'Campo to lead off the third inning. His coach at first base yelled for him to swing at the first pitch, and the sophomore did, knocking the ball all the way over the left-field fence for a home run.

“The birthday boy hit one out,” Haney said, smiling.

O’Campo was greeted by his teammates at home plate and celebrated his birthday with some high-fives and pats on the back. The home run gave Clawson the momentum it needed to start its rally to the victory.