Hawks freshmen complete furious rally in 13-12 win over Knights
By Dave Mast
April 15, 2010
500
West Holmes visited Hiland this past Friday in freshman baseball, and the two teams engaged in a wild one. The game featured plenty of hitting and a wild finish, which saw Hiland plate seven runs in the last inning, all with two outs, recording a frenetic 13-12 win.
West Homes took an early lead when Garrett Mackey singled home Blake Bunch in the first, but Hiland answered with a Kevin Schrock RBI in the bottom half. From there, Bunch went to work, shutting down the Hawks over the next three frames, while the Knights went to work on Hiland starter Sheldon Mullet. Singles by Bunch and Keaton Leppla, a double by Colton Shane and singles by Alex Lytle and Wyatt Gardner put the Knights up 5-1. The next inning, Mitch Sheely tripled to begin the inning, Bunch was hit by a pitch and both came around to score on another Lytle single to make it 7-1. The lead stretched to 10-1 in the fifth, when Bob Taylor, Jason Biltz and Sheely all singled, and Leppla plated a pair with a base hit. Bunch, stellar to that point, became a bit wild in the bottom of the fifth, walking two straight hitters to lead off the inning. Caleb Miller then laced a double to left to score one run, Mullet was hit by a pitch and Brandon Wengerd singled after another walk to make it 10-5 after five. The Knights responded by scoring a pair in the sixth, when Taylor tripled in a run then scored on a Biltz groundout. The Hawks got one back in the bottom of the sixth on a Mullet sacrifice fly, making it 12-6 heading into the final inning.
Wengerd finally was able to shut down the Knights vaunted offense in the seventh, including a couple of nice plays by third baseman Koby Troyer. Hilands Bryce Mast began the final at bat with a walk off of Leppla, who had relieved Bunch in the fifth, and Grant Stutzman singled. However, after inducing a pop-out and getting a strikeout, the Hawks started hitting. Richie Mast, Caleb Miller and Schrock all singled, with Schrocks hit making it 12-9. After Mullet walked, Wengerd drilled a single to center to plate two cutting the lead to 12-11. After steals put the runners on second and third, Mast, who scored the first run of the inning, hit a soft floater into shallow right, just eluding the glove of Biltz, scoring both runners and setting off a jubilant Hiland celebration.
Rounds two and three of the clash of neighboring schools takes place Saturday, April 17, at West Holmes, with the first game of a double-header slated for a 10 a.m. start.
