CLARION – Letdown? What letdown?

Coming off a season-defining 7-3 victory over second-ranked (Class 2A) Clear Lake on Tuesday, the Webster City baseball team wanted to make sure it wasn’t still in a celebratory mood when it stepped onto the diamond here Wednesday night.

That clearly wasn’t the case.

Sparked by a nine-run second inning and 13 hits from seven different players, the Lynx (3-9, 3-4 NCC) dismantled North Central Conference foe Clarion-Goldfield-Dows, 12-2 in 5 innings, to increase their winning streak to three games.

“The biggest thing I was worried about (Wednesday night) was having a letdown … that was not the case,” WCHS head coach Mark Fisher said. “We did a great job of leaving the win (over the Lions) where it was and looking to come out and build on our play.”

Senior Cal Zahn was explosive at the plate, as he went 3-for-4 with a first-inning RBI double, and three-run home run in the Lynx marathon second, and a RBI single in the third. The five RBI he collected was a season-high.

Ty Schnathorst finished 3-for-3 with two runs scored and a RBI, while Dylan Steen and Seth Crouthamel both cranked doubles and went 2-for-3. Crouthamel plated two runs, Steen one.

The three freshmen in the lineup – Romel Martinez, Max Hackbarth and Noah McKinney – all added singles. McKinney’s second-inning base knock scored a run.

Hackbarth was able to relax on the mound and go the distance for the win. The southpaw gave up six hits and just one earned run. He walked two and struck out four.

It was Hackbarth’s first stint on the mound since he lasted just three batters in a loss to Saydel last week. He toed the rubber after Crouthamel was a late scratch.

“He responded well,” Fisher said of Hackbarth. “He pounded the strike zone, mixed his speeds up and got out of a few jams. I really thought he battled.”

Cody Kapka, Trenton Sann and Kenton Waters all had two hits for the Cowboys.

BOONE RALLIES BY LYNX: Boone fell behind 2-0 early on, but rallied in the later innings to end Webster City’s three-game win streak, 6-3, in a non-conference baseball game last night in Boone.

“We’re still young and at times we look like boys playing against men, but we don’t back down, we’ll battle and we’re continuing to improve,”?WCHS head coach Mark Fisher said.

WCHS (3-10) finished with five hits to the eight racked up by Boone (12-3).

“At the plate … we were just not in sync all night,”?Fisher said.?”We were not as aggressive as we’ve been and we did not look as comfortable as we have lately. We scraped across a few runs early, but never was able to put an inning together.”

The Toreadors plated three runs in the fifth to move in front 4-2 and added two insurance runs in the sixth.

Dylan Steen took the loss on the mound. He worked into the fifth inning and allowed four runs before handing the ball over to reliever Cole Reigelsberger.

Reigelsberger, Romel Martinez, Ty Schnathorst, Cal Zahn and Noah McKinney all singled for the Lynx. Zahn drove in one run.

WCHS will take the weekend off before going on the road to face No. 8 (Class 2A)?Hampton-Dumont on Monday.