Indians knocked out of sectionals
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
CIRCLEVILLE — The Hillsboro Indians ran into the red-hot Circleville Tigers team and had no answers for their pitching or hitting, bowing out in the Division II SE District Sectional opener, 14-0 Monday at Circleville High School.
Hillsboro not only lost to the Tigers for the second straight year in the sectional tournament, but had their seven-game winning streak snapped.
The Indians tallied just three hits and were no-hit through 3.2 innings until senior Aric Carroll doubled to right field. The hit sent Paul Snyder to third, as he drew a two-out walk that kept the inning alive.
"We knew coming in their pitcher would pitch around the plate, plus he had a great circle change-up," HHS head coach Tim Hunt said. "Basically, he kept our kids off-balanced, and you have to tip your hat to him and the rest of the team.
"We got ourselves in holes, and we were forced to throw fastballs … and they hit them."
The first base runner for HHS was A.J. Hildebrand, who reached the bases in the first inning on an infield throwing error. The final two hits for HHS came in the fifth and final inning when senior Dow Kiefer led off with a single to right field. Also in the inning, sophomore Corey Walker reached first on an infield single with two outs.
Hillsboro now stands at 10-8 overall and 7-3 in the South Central Ohio League.
The Indians have one regular-season game remaining this season, with a home game against the Washington Blue Lions to wrap up league play.
Circleville (12-9) came out swinging early and often, scoring twice in the first, six in the third, and slammed the door shut in the fourth inning with six runs, including a grand slam.
Scoring in the first for the Tigers were KC Hawkins and Reily Kiser, with Hawkins, the lead-off hitter, drawing a walk, stealing second, advancing to third on a passed ball and scoring his run on a wild pick-off throw to first.
The second run of the inning was scored when Kiser took home on a strikeout, as HHS had to throw to first for the out. At first, it was unclear if the hit was a strikeout or foul ball, but it was ruled a dropped third strikeout by both umpires.
None of the technicalities really mattered once the third inning was completed, with Hawkins, John Klinebriel, Kiser, Kyle Dickey, John Hamman and Marcus Leach all scoring runs. In the third, Circleville tallied five hits, with their first four batters all gaining singles.
In the fourth, Dickey hammered a 331-foot home run over the left-field fence for a grand slam. The Tigers added two more runs later in the inning.
"We went to Lucasville on Saturday and hit the ball well," Circleville head coach Bob Lombardo said. "We were hoping to repeat that, and we did. We hope tonight is a good indication of what is to come."
Besides the hitting for Circleville, the pitching was spectacular, with the left-handed Klinebriel earning the five-inning win.
Klinebriel, who will pitch for Capital University next season, finished with four strikeouts and only allowed one HHS runner to third base. He allowed four hits, with one walk. His ERA entering the game was 0.64, with 35 strikeouts before Monday in 44 innings.
The loss went to Helterbrand, as he pitched 2 2-3 innings, finishing with 58 pitches. Pitching in relief were Tyler Griego and Brandon Wilson.
"Circleville is a good team, and they can do some damage in the tournament," Hunt said. "We made too many mistakes … mistakes we haven't seen in a while."
The Tigers will face the Miami Trace Panthers in the second round of the sectional tournament on Thursday at MTHS at 5 p.m.
Hunt talked about his senior class.
"Our seniors did a great job all year long with AJ leading us, along with Aric, Dow and Eli being good seniors," Hunt said. "They will be hard to replace, and we are going to miss them.
"If there is something positive to take out of this, we have a big junior class returning, and they can learn from this, continue to work hard and we can get better."
GAME NOTES: Game time was 1:17 … Seven of Hillsboro's outs came either by fly ball or line out … HHS sent 20 batters to the plate … In the regular season, Klinebriel walked just one batter … Miami Trace defeated Logan Elm 2-0 on Monday to advance in the sectionals.
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Hillsboro not only lost to the Tigers for the second straight year in the sectional tournament, but had their seven-game winning streak snapped.
The Indians tallied just three hits and were no-hit through 3.2 innings until senior Aric Carroll doubled to right field. The hit sent Paul Snyder to third, as he drew a two-out walk that kept the inning alive.
"We knew coming in their pitcher would pitch around the plate, plus he had a great circle change-up," HHS head coach Tim Hunt said. "Basically, he kept our kids off-balanced, and you have to tip your hat to him and the rest of the team.
"We got ourselves in holes, and we were forced to throw fastballs … and they hit them."
The first base runner for HHS was A.J. Hildebrand, who reached the bases in the first inning on an infield throwing error. The final two hits for HHS came in the fifth and final inning when senior Dow Kiefer led off with a single to right field. Also in the inning, sophomore Corey Walker reached first on an infield single with two outs.
Hillsboro now stands at 10-8 overall and 7-3 in the South Central Ohio League.
The Indians have one regular-season game remaining this season, with a home game against the Washington Blue Lions to wrap up league play.
Circleville (12-9) came out swinging early and often, scoring twice in the first, six in the third, and slammed the door shut in the fourth inning with six runs, including a grand slam.
Scoring in the first for the Tigers were KC Hawkins and Reily Kiser, with Hawkins, the lead-off hitter, drawing a walk, stealing second, advancing to third on a passed ball and scoring his run on a wild pick-off throw to first.
The second run of the inning was scored when Kiser took home on a strikeout, as HHS had to throw to first for the out. At first, it was unclear if the hit was a strikeout or foul ball, but it was ruled a dropped third strikeout by both umpires.
None of the technicalities really mattered once the third inning was completed, with Hawkins, John Klinebriel, Kiser, Kyle Dickey, John Hamman and Marcus Leach all scoring runs. In the third, Circleville tallied five hits, with their first four batters all gaining singles.
In the fourth, Dickey hammered a 331-foot home run over the left-field fence for a grand slam. The Tigers added two more runs later in the inning.
"We went to Lucasville on Saturday and hit the ball well," Circleville head coach Bob Lombardo said. "We were hoping to repeat that, and we did. We hope tonight is a good indication of what is to come."
Besides the hitting for Circleville, the pitching was spectacular, with the left-handed Klinebriel earning the five-inning win.
Klinebriel, who will pitch for Capital University next season, finished with four strikeouts and only allowed one HHS runner to third base. He allowed four hits, with one walk. His ERA entering the game was 0.64, with 35 strikeouts before Monday in 44 innings.
The loss went to Helterbrand, as he pitched 2 2-3 innings, finishing with 58 pitches. Pitching in relief were Tyler Griego and Brandon Wilson.
"Circleville is a good team, and they can do some damage in the tournament," Hunt said. "We made too many mistakes … mistakes we haven't seen in a while."
The Tigers will face the Miami Trace Panthers in the second round of the sectional tournament on Thursday at MTHS at 5 p.m.
Hunt talked about his senior class.
"Our seniors did a great job all year long with AJ leading us, along with Aric, Dow and Eli being good seniors," Hunt said. "They will be hard to replace, and we are going to miss them.
"If there is something positive to take out of this, we have a big junior class returning, and they can learn from this, continue to work hard and we can get better."
GAME NOTES: Game time was 1:17 … Seven of Hillsboro's outs came either by fly ball or line out … HHS sent 20 batters to the plate … In the regular season, Klinebriel walked just one batter … Miami Trace defeated Logan Elm 2-0 on Monday to advance in the sectionals.
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