Knights blank Hawks in senior division opener
West Holmes made a splash in its first game of Little League Senior Division action, blanking the visiting Hiland Hawks 10-0 in six innings, Tuesday, June 1.Gabe Snyder worked the first four innings and Stevie Thomas finished things off for the Knights.
Snyder also helped his own cause with a two-run homer that gave West Holmes a 5-0 lead in the third inning.
Hiland threatened in the first inning after the first two batters were retired. A pair of walks and a single by Brandon Wengerd looked like the Hawks would break through, but left fielder Mason James made a nice throw home to cut down Kevin Schrock trying to score.
James then got the three-run first inning rally started with a bunt single.
A pair of wild pitches and a ground out scored the first run. Keaton Leppla then hustled a double. He moved up to third on a passed ball and scored on a wild pitch. Snyder walked and went to second on the wild pitch that scored Leppla. Taylor Owen reached on an infield single that second baseman Aaron Weaver threw home wildly, allowing Snyder to score the third run of the inning.
Hiland threatened again in the second inning, loading the bases with two outs, but Snyder induced a soft liner to short that ended the inning.
Grant Stutzman relieved Caleb Schlabach on the hill for the Hawks in the third inning. Joey Gonzalez ripped a one-out single and Snyder followed with a drive over the left-center field fence.
The lefty set down the Hawks one-two-three in the fourth, getting a pair of called strike outs to end his evening’s work. He finished with four strikeouts and three walks on three hits.
The Knights made it 8-0 in the fourth on a single by Colton Shane and back-to-back triples by James and Thomas. Leppla scored Thomas on a sacrifice fly.
In the West Holmes sixth, Vayden Wood got the rally started with a single off Hiland’s third pitcher, Blake Bunch. James singled and Thomas walked to load the bases.
Leppla ended the game with a two-run double to left. He finished with two doubles and three RBI. James added three singles and an RBI triple to lead the West Holmes offense. The Knights are 1-0.
Schrock walked and singled twice for the Hawks (0-1).