5 runs in 4th inning send Indians over Miami Trace
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
The Hillsboro Indians surprised some by scoring all of their runs in one inning. Not only that, but they also defeated the top team in the Frontier Athletic Conference, that being the Miami Trace Panthers, by a 5-2 score Friday.
The Indians used patience at the plate in the fourth inning — at the time trailing 2-0 — by forcing three walks and hitting three doubles, and along the way they stole two bases and scored and moved the bases on wild pitches.
The patience portion of the bottom of the fourth inning began with Luke Magulac drawing a full-count walk to lead off the inning. Next, Payton Bell forced a walk on a 3-1 count. Magulac and Bell each stole a base, and the bases were loaded on a walk drawn by Grant Crum on a 3-1 count.
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With the bases loaded, Magulac cut the Miami Trace (5-2, 10-3) lead in half by scoring a run on a wild pitch, and Bell moved to third on a wild pitch.
As the Indians (4-4, 6-9) cut the lead in half with aggressive base running, patience at the plate and taking advantage of Miami Trace miscues, the Indians then let their bats loose with Kelton Anderson sending the ball to centerfield on a line drive double — on an 0-2 count — to score Bell and move Crum to third, tying the score at 2-2.
The Indians weren’t finished at Shaffer Park just yet as Ethan Watson hit a double, on the first pitch of the at-bat, to the left field fence for two RBI with Crum and Anderson both scoring runs.
Following two consecutive outs, Phillip Mycroft doubled to left field on a 2-2 count to score Watson for the 5-2 advantage.
“We’ve been in a lot of tight games this season and missed some opportunities in some of them, but the fourth inning is what we’ve been looking for,” HHS head coach Matt Garman said. “With runners in scoring position and opportunities, every time we just haven’t been able to knock runners in. Maybe it is just bad luck. Tonight we did when we had the chance, and we took advantage of it when we had it.
“We beat a good team. That is a 10-win team, and we are certainly happy with a win.”
Neither team scored a run for the remainder of the FAC game as both pitchers went the distance, with Ethan Humphries gaining the complete game win for the Indians. Humphries, who faced 30 batters in seven innings, allowed two runs (both earned) on seven hits, one walk and one hit batter. Humphries threw 107 pitches and struck out eight batters.
“Ethan had them off-balanced the entire game, and the hits they were getting were infield hits, so there weren’t too many hard-hit balls. He was in control all night, and I was glad to see us score some runs for him and get the W,” Garman said. “Ethan has had a lot of quality starts the past two to three weeks of the season.”
Miami Trace’s offense saw them score one run in the top of the first inning and another run in the top of the second. Scoring runs for Miami Trace were Drew Batson and Dalton Mayer.
The loss on the mound was charged to Austin Matthews, who faced 28 batters in the game. Matthews threw a total of 101 pitches and in six innings allowed five runs (all earned) on seven hits and four walks. Matthews struck out six.
At the plate for the Indians, a total of seven players had one hit each with those players being Magulac, Bell, Crum, Anderson, Watson, Jared Thompson and Mycroft. Magulac, Bell, Crum and Hayden Haines all forced a walk.
In all, both teams totaled seven hits, and both teams also committed an error. In their first meeting against each other earlier this season at Miami Trace, the Panthers defeated Indians, 6-4.
This was also the Indians’ fourth straight game this week, and they now have a doubleheader on Saturday.
“We are in the middle of a hard stretch of baseball, so we’ll be happy when we get to Sunday and get that day off,” Garman said. “It is good to get a league win here. We are starting to play some better baseball. Mentally, we are starting to be a little more focused and offensively, we are starting to look better at the plate and starting to come together, and now is a good time to do it with the season winding down.
“It is nice to see your guys’ effort get rewarded because we’ve been the victim of tough luck. We’ve lost six games by one or two runs. It just seems like those one or two plays you need to go your way just haven’t done that for us, and that is how it goes sometimes. We won tonight, and hopefully we keep moving forward.”
The Indians used patience at the plate in the fourth inning — at the time trailing 2-0 — by forcing three walks and hitting three doubles, and along the way they stole two bases and scored and moved the bases on wild pitches.
The patience portion of the bottom of the fourth inning began with Luke Magulac drawing a full-count walk to lead off the inning. Next, Payton Bell forced a walk on a 3-1 count. Magulac and Bell each stole a base, and the bases were loaded on a walk drawn by Grant Crum on a 3-1 count.
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With the bases loaded, Magulac cut the Miami Trace (5-2, 10-3) lead in half by scoring a run on a wild pitch, and Bell moved to third on a wild pitch.
As the Indians (4-4, 6-9) cut the lead in half with aggressive base running, patience at the plate and taking advantage of Miami Trace miscues, the Indians then let their bats loose with Kelton Anderson sending the ball to centerfield on a line drive double — on an 0-2 count — to score Bell and move Crum to third, tying the score at 2-2.
The Indians weren’t finished at Shaffer Park just yet as Ethan Watson hit a double, on the first pitch of the at-bat, to the left field fence for two RBI with Crum and Anderson both scoring runs.
Following two consecutive outs, Phillip Mycroft doubled to left field on a 2-2 count to score Watson for the 5-2 advantage.
“We’ve been in a lot of tight games this season and missed some opportunities in some of them, but the fourth inning is what we’ve been looking for,” HHS head coach Matt Garman said. “With runners in scoring position and opportunities, every time we just haven’t been able to knock runners in. Maybe it is just bad luck. Tonight we did when we had the chance, and we took advantage of it when we had it.
“We beat a good team. That is a 10-win team, and we are certainly happy with a win.”
Neither team scored a run for the remainder of the FAC game as both pitchers went the distance, with Ethan Humphries gaining the complete game win for the Indians. Humphries, who faced 30 batters in seven innings, allowed two runs (both earned) on seven hits, one walk and one hit batter. Humphries threw 107 pitches and struck out eight batters.
“Ethan had them off-balanced the entire game, and the hits they were getting were infield hits, so there weren’t too many hard-hit balls. He was in control all night, and I was glad to see us score some runs for him and get the W,” Garman said. “Ethan has had a lot of quality starts the past two to three weeks of the season.”
Miami Trace’s offense saw them score one run in the top of the first inning and another run in the top of the second. Scoring runs for Miami Trace were Drew Batson and Dalton Mayer.
The loss on the mound was charged to Austin Matthews, who faced 28 batters in the game. Matthews threw a total of 101 pitches and in six innings allowed five runs (all earned) on seven hits and four walks. Matthews struck out six.
At the plate for the Indians, a total of seven players had one hit each with those players being Magulac, Bell, Crum, Anderson, Watson, Jared Thompson and Mycroft. Magulac, Bell, Crum and Hayden Haines all forced a walk.
In all, both teams totaled seven hits, and both teams also committed an error. In their first meeting against each other earlier this season at Miami Trace, the Panthers defeated Indians, 6-4.
This was also the Indians’ fourth straight game this week, and they now have a doubleheader on Saturday.
“We are in the middle of a hard stretch of baseball, so we’ll be happy when we get to Sunday and get that day off,” Garman said. “It is good to get a league win here. We are starting to play some better baseball. Mentally, we are starting to be a little more focused and offensively, we are starting to look better at the plate and starting to come together, and now is a good time to do it with the season winding down.
“It is nice to see your guys’ effort get rewarded because we’ve been the victim of tough luck. We’ve lost six games by one or two runs. It just seems like those one or two plays you need to go your way just haven’t done that for us, and that is how it goes sometimes. We won tonight, and hopefully we keep moving forward.”