Indians win 3rd straight; run-rule Tigers
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
GREENFIELD — The Hillsboro Indians are beginning to turn things around, and on Tuesday, they turned that into a third consecutive victory as they won via a 13-2 run-rule over rival McClain in six innings at Mitchell Park.
Hillsboro did everything correct at the plate and on the bases, taking advantage of McClain miscues and their lack of hitting and turning it into their eighth win of the season.
HHS improves to 8-18 overall, while MHS drops to 7-15 on the season. In the South Central Ohio League standings, the Indians move to 5-9, while MHS is 4-9 with one league game left to be made up.
The win comes one day after the Indians won at Sheridan by a 2-1 score in their sectional semifinal postseason game.
[[In-content Ad]]"Things are going well right now," HHS head coach Tim Hunt said. "Even though we've won three games in a row, we still have to work hard and stay focused.
"We've started hitting the ball, and we are still working the count at the plate. Our base running is better as well, and we just had an all-around great game (Tuesday)."
The Indians collected nine hits, as they scored five times in the fourth. The visitors followed that with four more runs in the fifth and added another four runs in the sixth for their 13 total runs.
"Hillsboro is the most improved team in our league," MHS head coach Brandon Streitenberger said. "They are consistently better, they are well coached. The difference (Tuesday) was they hit the ball and we didn't.
"We had some mistakes, and when you are struggling, those things seem to happen. Their pitchers slammed the door on us."
In the five-run fourth, it looked as though the Tigers would breeze through the inning as their first two outs occurred on a 4-6-3 double play against the first two batters of the inning.
From there, Hillsboro's Alex VanZant singled, and Zach Young drew a walk. Zack Stacy followed with a base hit to score VanZant for the first HHS run. Cole Reveal walked, and Trey Moberly batted in three runs, scoring Young, Stacy and Reveal.
Brandon Carter forced a full-count walk, and Ty Crum batted in Moberly with a base hit for a 5-2 advantage.
MHS was the first team to score as they plated a run in the first inning with Brent Shannon scoring on a sacrifice fly by Cameron Spangler. Shannon initially reached the bases with a lead-off single. In the second, Zach Rumer scored on a ground out by Shannon.
"I was pleased with our outfield play, but we just had our struggles," Streitenberger said.
The game was well in hand at the conclusion of Hillsboro's half of the fifth as they added four runs with VanZant, Young, Stacy and Moberly all rounding the bases. In the fifth, Logan Lesley, VanZant, Young and Stacy all scored runs.
Of the 13 hits by the Indians, VanZant led by going 3-for-3, followed by Moberly with two hits. Carter, Crum, LeMaster and Young each had one hit. Moberly led HHS with five RBIs, while Stacy and Reveal each had three.
HHS also had four steals by Moberly, Carter, VanZant and Young. The Indians also had eight walks with Carter and Crum each drawing two. VanZant, Young, Stacy and Reveal each had one.
"We took advantage of some walks and we've been working on hitting line drives and not fly balls," Hunt said. "It's been a big difference and it puts extra pressure on our opponents."
Seth Meyer was the winning pitcher. Meyer went four innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits and no walks. Lesley pitched two innings of relief, allowing no runs, hits or walks with two strikeouts.
"Our pitching has been great for the past two weeks," Hunt said. "It has kept us in games, and both our guys did an excellent job (Tuesday)."
The five MHS hits came off the bats of Shannon, Kyle Flora, Trevor Gossett, Devin Trefz and Josh Carroll.
MHS used five pitchers with Jordan Boles being charged with the loss. Also pitching were Shannon, Shawn Haddox, Rumer and Hampton. Hampton had one strikeout, as he was the lone MHS pitcher to gain a strikeout.
In their first meeting of the season, the Indians won 11-3 at Shaffer Park.
Streitenberger spoke about his senior class as it was Senior Day in Greenfield.
"We are going to miss this group of players," he said. "All of them are quality young men and great to be around."
HHS will play in their sectional final game on Thursday at Miami Trace, facing the state-ranked Panthers at 5 p.m. MT won both regular season meetings with HHS.
The Tigers face the Washington Blue Lions on Thursday, in Washington C.H. in their sectional final game at 5 p.m.
Hillsboro did everything correct at the plate and on the bases, taking advantage of McClain miscues and their lack of hitting and turning it into their eighth win of the season.
HHS improves to 8-18 overall, while MHS drops to 7-15 on the season. In the South Central Ohio League standings, the Indians move to 5-9, while MHS is 4-9 with one league game left to be made up.
The win comes one day after the Indians won at Sheridan by a 2-1 score in their sectional semifinal postseason game.
[[In-content Ad]]"Things are going well right now," HHS head coach Tim Hunt said. "Even though we've won three games in a row, we still have to work hard and stay focused.
"We've started hitting the ball, and we are still working the count at the plate. Our base running is better as well, and we just had an all-around great game (Tuesday)."
The Indians collected nine hits, as they scored five times in the fourth. The visitors followed that with four more runs in the fifth and added another four runs in the sixth for their 13 total runs.
"Hillsboro is the most improved team in our league," MHS head coach Brandon Streitenberger said. "They are consistently better, they are well coached. The difference (Tuesday) was they hit the ball and we didn't.
"We had some mistakes, and when you are struggling, those things seem to happen. Their pitchers slammed the door on us."
In the five-run fourth, it looked as though the Tigers would breeze through the inning as their first two outs occurred on a 4-6-3 double play against the first two batters of the inning.
From there, Hillsboro's Alex VanZant singled, and Zach Young drew a walk. Zack Stacy followed with a base hit to score VanZant for the first HHS run. Cole Reveal walked, and Trey Moberly batted in three runs, scoring Young, Stacy and Reveal.
Brandon Carter forced a full-count walk, and Ty Crum batted in Moberly with a base hit for a 5-2 advantage.
MHS was the first team to score as they plated a run in the first inning with Brent Shannon scoring on a sacrifice fly by Cameron Spangler. Shannon initially reached the bases with a lead-off single. In the second, Zach Rumer scored on a ground out by Shannon.
"I was pleased with our outfield play, but we just had our struggles," Streitenberger said.
The game was well in hand at the conclusion of Hillsboro's half of the fifth as they added four runs with VanZant, Young, Stacy and Moberly all rounding the bases. In the fifth, Logan Lesley, VanZant, Young and Stacy all scored runs.
Of the 13 hits by the Indians, VanZant led by going 3-for-3, followed by Moberly with two hits. Carter, Crum, LeMaster and Young each had one hit. Moberly led HHS with five RBIs, while Stacy and Reveal each had three.
HHS also had four steals by Moberly, Carter, VanZant and Young. The Indians also had eight walks with Carter and Crum each drawing two. VanZant, Young, Stacy and Reveal each had one.
"We took advantage of some walks and we've been working on hitting line drives and not fly balls," Hunt said. "It's been a big difference and it puts extra pressure on our opponents."
Seth Meyer was the winning pitcher. Meyer went four innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits and no walks. Lesley pitched two innings of relief, allowing no runs, hits or walks with two strikeouts.
"Our pitching has been great for the past two weeks," Hunt said. "It has kept us in games, and both our guys did an excellent job (Tuesday)."
The five MHS hits came off the bats of Shannon, Kyle Flora, Trevor Gossett, Devin Trefz and Josh Carroll.
MHS used five pitchers with Jordan Boles being charged with the loss. Also pitching were Shannon, Shawn Haddox, Rumer and Hampton. Hampton had one strikeout, as he was the lone MHS pitcher to gain a strikeout.
In their first meeting of the season, the Indians won 11-3 at Shaffer Park.
Streitenberger spoke about his senior class as it was Senior Day in Greenfield.
"We are going to miss this group of players," he said. "All of them are quality young men and great to be around."
HHS will play in their sectional final game on Thursday at Miami Trace, facing the state-ranked Panthers at 5 p.m. MT won both regular season meetings with HHS.
The Tigers face the Washington Blue Lions on Thursday, in Washington C.H. in their sectional final game at 5 p.m.