The traveling Volcanoes: Baseball season is finally here! Could someone please tell Mother Nature?
By Mari Erin Roth
Sports Writer
The Chester baseball diamond is out of sight, and not in the ’60s ‘flower-power’ way. “It is likely CHS will be almost entirely a road team given our field has 5 feet of snow,” said Assistant Chester High School baseball coach George Wellman. You may remember the stories in past years when snow covered the fields through much of the season and how players honed their skills inside the gym with make-shift baseball diamonds and soccer fields. Well, that is the scene for Volcano athletes this year. As most know, this is the biggest pile of snow Plumas County has received in decades. But the Chester Volcano baseball team has already put two wins up on the virtual Volcano scoreboard and the team has a whole season of games scheduled through to Cinco de Mayo, May 5, in Redding.
The 2023 Volcano team is made up of 7 freshmen, 2 sophomores, 4 juniors, and one senior. CHS pitchers in the line-up are junior Jax Holland, sophomores Chase Clark and Kooper Clark, and freshmen Grady Klimek and Carter McCann.
Chester 27, Williams 0
On the heated plain of an 85-foot elevation, the Volcanoes first took on the Williams Yellowjackets March 2 during pre-season tournament play in Biggs to win by a score of 27-0. Scoreboard marks were added as 15 Chester runs in the first inning, 3 more Volcano runs in the second inning, no runs in the third inning, and 9 additional CHS runs in the fourth and final inning.
During the game, runs were scored by senior Conner Barr (4), juniors Trent Tissot (3), Jacob Dowling (3), Lucas Klimek (4), Jax Holland (2), sophomores Kooper Clark (2), and Chase Clark (3), and freshmen Grady Klimek, Carter McCann (2), Jace Vaca (2), Callan Wiseman, and Caiden Clark (3). Caiden Clark hit 4 RBIs. Kooper Clark and Lucas Klimek hit 3 RBIs. Grady Klimek, Tissot, Dowling, Barr, Vaca, and Chase Clark each hit 2 RBIs. Holland and Ulyses Bugarin knocked in one runner each.
Volcano pitchers that made an appearance at the mound were Grady Klimek, Kooper Clark, Carter McCann, Jax Holland, and Chase Clark. Kooper faced 6 batters with 28 pitches and struck out three. Jax faced three batters with 13 pitches and struck out two. Chase faced 6 batters with 28 pitches and struck out two. Carter faced 4 batters with 12 pitches and struck out one. The Yellowjacket pitching team struck out a total of 4 CHS batters and two Volcanoes were hit by a pitch. Kooper Clark and Chase Clark were both able to steal two bases each and Jax Holland stole one, too.
Chester 5, Biggs 1
The Volcanoes took on the tournament hosts for their second challenge March 3. The Chester boys topped the Wolverines in a tighter but still victorious contest on the diamond. “Well-played game against Biggs!” said CHS head baseball coach Mike Klimek. “No errors with two days practice is awesome. Timely hitting and solid pitching made the difference.” CHS took the lead in the bottom of the first inning with a two-run lead, then widened the margin in the third inning by adding three more Volcano runs to the scoreboard. Biggs rallied in the sixth inning with a single mark on the board but that was all the Wolverines could manage for the ending CHS winning score of 5-1.
Holland pitched one inning and struck out 3 Wolverine batters of five faced with 25 pitches. Dowling threw 26 pitches in two innings and struck out two Biggs batters of seven faced. Barr struck out two batters of the five he faced in one inning using 25 pitches. Lucas Klimek faced 7 batters and struck out two throwing 26 pitches. Chase Clark pitched one inning, faced 3 batters, and threw 11 pitches.
Holland scored two of the five Volcano runs. The other three were scored by Dowling, Lucas Klimek, and Caiden Clark. Dowling and Barr each hit 2 RBIs each and Tissot hit in the fifth CHS run. “Congratulations team on taking the Consolation Trophy against a good Biggs team,” said coach Wellman. “You did this, you earned this.”
What is next for the Volcanoes?
The two games on the upcoming schedule that may be a challenge are Burney, Tuesday, April 4 and Portola on Friday, April 7. It seems unlikely that snow will be cleared enough for either of those games but you never know. Most of the games are down the hill in warmer climates but with the weather the way it has been, there is no telling until game day. But here is the schedule as it sits:
Tuesday 3/28 4 p.m. Etna
Thursday 3/30 4 p.m. East Nicolaus
Tuesday 4/4 4 p.m. Burney (scheduled as a Chester home game)
Friday 4/7 4 p.m. Portola
Tuesday 4/18 4 p.m. Redding Christian (scheduled as a Chester home game)
Friday 4/21 4 p.m. Burney
Tuesday 4/25 4 p.m. Portola (scheduled as a Chester home game)
Friday 5/5 4 p.m. Redding Christian
