Indians win Deb’s Wooden Bat Classic with 2 walk-off victories

Saturday afternoon the Hillsboro Indians won two games en route to winning the 2026 Deb’s Wooden Bat Classic, as they defeated the Miller Falcons and Williamsburg Wildcats at Hillsboro High School. 

The event was hosted by the Whiteoak Wildcats, with the two locations being Whiteoak High School and Hillsboro High School. 

For the Indians, they won the event with a 1-0 victory over Miller in their first game, followed by a 3-2 win against Williamsburg, with both of their games being played at HHS. 

In game one, the Indians and Falcons were both scoreless through six innings, and Miller didn’t score a run in the top of the seventh. Hillsboro had other plans, finally breaking the scoreless tie with a walk-off win. 

The game-winning inning started with a single hit by Brody Kelch to left field to start the inning, followed with a fly ball out. Von Steward moved Kelch to third with a ball hit to third base, as he was safe at first. With runners on the corners, Steward took second base, and the game-winning hit came with Brady Juillerat hitting a single to left field, scoring Kelch for the 1-0 win. 

“This team is real close to turning the corner and never looking back in a positive way,” HHS head coach Ben Miller said. “We’ve worked so hard in the offseason, and our bats didn’t show it today, but this team is absolutely different than the teams we’ve had in the past. I’m very proud of them for the toughness and grit they displayed.

“Typically we have more hits than what we had going into the bottom of the seventh. We runs the bases very well, but it wasn’t for us today, so we waited until the seventh to lock that up and nail that down.”

Hillsboro finished the win with five hits with Kelch going 2-for-3 with one run. Steward was 1-for-3, Juillerat was 1-for-3 and Mason Dumpert was 1-for-2. Kelch, Jack Cornele and Dumpert each had a steal. 

“This was a good win. We have a lot of goals … we’ve set some goals, and getting off on the right foot is super important,” Miller said. 

Nate Lane pitched a no-decision as he went five innings, allowing no earned runs on two hits and three walks. Lane finished with eight strikeouts, throwing 72 pitches, 42 for strikes. 

The winning pitcher was Walker Pence with two innings on the mound, allowing no runs, no hits with one walk and two strikeouts as he faced 19 batters. Pence threw 27 pitches, 16 for strikes, facing seven batters. 

“We had a fantastic effort from our two guys. Both pounded the zone, both had strikeouts and relied on the defense heavily, which played lights out except for the first batter of the game,” Miller said. 

In the championship game of the Deb’s Wooden Bat Classic, Hillsboro won with another walk-off victory, scoring all three of their runs in the bottom of the seventh for the 3-2 win. 

Trailing 2-0 going into the bottom of the final inning, Mason Dumpert led off by being hit by a pitch to take first base on a 3-1 count. Next was a Walker Pence single, with Dumpert scoring a run on an error, and in the same sequence, Pence took second base on the same error. 

Pence took third base on a ground out by Nate Lane, and from there Jack Cornele was intentionally walked. Cornele took second base uncontested for defensive indifference, and with two outs following an infield fly pop up to second base, Luke Holland singled on a full-count to second base, scoring Pence and moving Cornele to third. 

Juillerat loaded the bases with a hit by pitch, and Cornele scored the game-winning run for the walk-off win.

The Indians finished with seven hits, as Pence was 2-for-3 with one run and one walk, and Charlie Starks finished 2-for-3. 

Holland was 1-for-4 with one RBI, Steward went 1-for-3 with a double and Dumpert was 1-for-2 with one run. 

Juillerat, Cornele and Dumpert each were hit by a pitch, while Dumpert and Pence each had a steal. 

The Indians used three pitchers in the game with Holland being the winning pitcher, as he went 0.2 innings with no runs and one hit allowed. Starks pitched 0.1 innings, allowing one earned run. Juillerat was the starter, pitching 6.0 innings, allowing no earned runs on six hits and two walks with four strikeouts. 

The two wins move the Indians to 2-2 overall. 

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On Friday, April 3, the Hillsboro Indians lost to the Batavia Bulldogs 13-3 in non-conference play at BHS. 

Batavia scored six runs in the bottom of the first and followed with two runs in the second, one run each in the third, fourth and fifth innings. BHS finished their scoring with a two-run sixth inning to end the game. 

HHS scored one run in the top of the second, followed by two runs in the fourth inning. 

The Indians finished with three hits and they had one error, while Batavia totaled 17 hits and no errors. 

Hillsboro hits were by Walker Pence (1-for-2, one RBI), Carter Stingley (1-for-2, one run) and Logan Barton (1-for-3, one RBI). HHS also had a run scored and two walks forced by Von Steward. Brady Juillerat also forced a walk, and Mason Dumpert scored one run and forced a walk. 

Jack Cornele and Pence each were hit by a pitch. Dumpert and Pence both had one steal. 

Pitching for the Indians were Brayden Oberrecht and Stingley.