Cardinals alone atop the Big Nine

By Lisa Paine
INDEX Sports Editor

FLINT — Trevor Cousineau tossed a two-hitter, sat down 14, and walked one to shut out Big Nine rival Flint Powers Catholic in a doubleheader at Powers Monday. Game one was a low-scoring, 1-0 blanking, and the nightcap was a tight 2-1 battle to lift the Cards to 10-1 Big Nine, 17-9 overall. Davison now has a three-game lead with four league games left on the slate to lead the Big Nine race.
Cousineau and Kaleb Forr each had two hits and Kevin Yoesting chipped in with one hit. In the sixth inning. Forr singled, Danny Clugston came in to pinch run and Mike Dolloff sacrificed him to second base. Clugston advanced to third on a wild throw, and Dipzinski hit a sacrifice fly to center as Clugston tagged up and came home.
In the finale, Dipzinski went the first 6-1/3 innings, and Davison scored two runs in the fifth. Nick Creasson singled, Jared Cowan singled, Forr singled to load the bases and Dolloff singled to score one. The Chargers got one out, but Chad Hoover walked with the bases loaded.
In the sixth, Powers scored one on three straight hits. In the seventh Dipzinski got the first Powers man out, and the second man made it on base on an error. Dipzinski hit the third batter with one out, and Cousineau was brought back in to face a lefty and struck him out. He picked the next guy off at second to end the game.
“The Carman win last Thursday kept us in there, and the Powers wins were huge,” said Davison coach Timm Rye. “With Flushing and Grand Blanc splitting Monday, that also was to our advantage. The Powers games were well-played games, and one mistake became critical for them. One mistake can make or break you anytime.”
Rye noted that any time you can sweep Grand Blanc, Flushing and Powers, it’s big. Sweeping Flint Kearsley earlier in the season didn’t hurt either.
“I’m really pleased with the guys and their performances and how they have come around,” Rye added.
Last Saturday, Davison hit the road to face Traverse City West, shutting them out, 7-0, and taking the nightcap, 3-2.
Yoesting got the complete shutout win, while Cousineau, Jared Cowan and Nick Horton had three hits in the game.
Ricky Brooks started the first five innings of the nightcap to get the win, and Dolloff finished out the final two. Cowan had two hits, while singles were recorded by Creason, Casey Clark, Dipzinski, Brooks, Dolloff and Tyler Kostelic. Dolloff and Kostelic also each drove in a run.
Last Thursday, Davison won both games against Carman-Ainsworth, 6-1 and 13-3.
Cousineau got the start, allowing three hits while striking out two in four innings. Dipzinski gave up one run, struck out two and walked two. He and Cousineau each drove in one run and had two hits apiece. Cowan and Forr had one hit and one RBI each, and Yoesting had one hit.
Clark got the mercy-ruled win, while Cowan led with four hits and one RBI. Creason had two hits and three RBI, Forr had two hits and two RBI, and Dipzinski had two hits. Clugston, Horton, Bobby Sanchez and Cousineau had singles, and Horton tacked on two RBI.
Next up for the Cardinals is a road trip to face Flushing today, then they host Carman-Ainsworth next Monday.