Chevy like a rock in Kernels' walk-off victory

CEDAR RAPIDS - His emotion was real, his smile wide. His postgame phone call from home was a great one.

“Yep, my pops just called me,” Chevy Clarke said after his Cedar Rapids Kernels beat Kane County in 10 innings last night, 7-5, at Veterans Memorial Stadium. “He's happy.”

Kenneth Clarke couldn't have been happier than his son. No way.

It's been a real struggle of late for Chevy, the Kernels center fielder and first-round draft pick of the Los Angeles Angels in 2010. A 3-for-33 slump over the previous 10 games dropped his batting average well under the Mendoza Line and made you wonder if he's in over his head right now in low-Class A.

But Clarke, 20, has special raw skills. There's a reason he was drafted 30th overall out of an Atlanta-area high school.

He made a great running catch of a ball hit over his head to the fence in the first inning, legged out an infield single in the third and drilled a game-tying home run the other way to left-center with one out in the ninth inning. A pumped up Clarke nearly tore batboy Jon Teig's arm off as he gave him a high-five after touching home plate.

“Now I can breathe. I can just play now,” Clarke said. “I've been pushing and pushing and trying to do more and more to get what I want to get. A lot of my teammates, they kept me up, they were behind me. The coaches, everybody was. They were like ‘Just work through this.'”

“I was pumped,” said Kernels right fielder Andy Workman. “The whole team was pumped for him. He's kind of been struggling a little bit. He got a pitch and showed some pop right there.”

As Workman did an inning later. He pulled an 0-1 fastball from losing pitcher Nick Graffeo (0-1), who blew his first save in nine opportunities, onto the porch in left field for a walk-off home run.

“I actually didn't know if it was out,” Workman said. “It had good carry, good backspin to it.”

Workman was mobbed by teammates at home plate. Kind of like Clarke was mobbed by teammates in the dugout after his big hit.

“It's been a little while since I've smiled,” he said.

The teams complete their three-game series Friday night at 6:35. Another 2010 first-round draft pick of the Angels, Cam Bedrosian, is scheduled to pitch for the Kernels.

Here is a copy of the game boxscore:

Scoreboard _ Midwest League Scoreboard