Hillsboro Indians finish district runners-up; fall by 1 run to Circleville

ATHENS — A strong final run of eight consecutive wins en route to reaching the Division II SE District Finals came to a close on Thursday for the No. 7 seeded Hillsboro Indians, falling to the No. 5 ranked Circleville Tigers, 4-3 at Ohio University.

The Indians — who end the season at 14-12 overall — left a total of 12 runners stranded on the bases, including leaving the bases loaded on three separate occasions, as those mixed opportunities stifled chances for the Indians to break away from the Tigers. This was the Indians’ first district final game since 2003. For the game, the Indians totaled six hits, four walks and were hit by four pitches. 

“I look at this game in that it was kind of a microcosm of our season in that we didn’t have our best stuff offensively, we didn’t have our best stuff defensively and pitching — we hung in there a little bit, but it certainly wasn’t our best night pitching — but we found a way to stay in it," Hillsboro head coach Matt Garman said. “We clawed our way and scratched, and it was a real gritty night for my guys. Unfortunately, we were just one swing of the bat away from a different outcome, and that stinks.”

In the first inning, the Indians had Luke Magulac reach the bases after being hit by a pitch, followed by two consecutive outs. Magulac (3-for-3, HBP) moved over a base off a base hit past third base into left field by Ethan Watson, and Jared Thompson was hit by a pitch to load the bases. The three runners were left stranded as the third out was recorded to end the top of the first.

Circleville also left the bases full in the bottom of the first, reaching the bases on an infield error, a fielder’s choice with an error and a walk, but just like Hillsboro, they were unable to bring home a run with two outs against them as a fly ball to centerfield ended the inning.

Hillsboro was first to score a run in the top of the second with Dylan Boone taking first on a fielder’s choice, as Grant Crum was out a second after drawing a walk. Boone eventually moved to second base following an infield error that left Justin Scott safe at first base. A double by Magulac to the outfield scored Boone for the 1-0 lead.

The Tigers answered with two runs in the bottom of the second, scoring both runs on a base hit past the shortstop — on a 3-2 count — for the 2-1 advantage.

No runs were scored again until the top of the fifth inning where the Indians tallied two runs, both scoring with two outs. Following the first two batters being recorded out on ground outs to the shortstop, Crum was hit by a pitch, followed by Boone drawing a walk. Next, an infield base hit by Scott loaded the bases.

Magulac followed with a single past the third baseman to plate Crum for a 2-2 score. Next, with the bases loaded, Payton Bell was hit by a pitch on a 2-2 count, allowing Boone to score for the 3-2 Hillsboro lead as Bell finished 1-for-3. 

Again, the Tigers had an answer for the Indians in the bottom of the fifth, with Circleville tying the score at 3-3 with a run scored on a double to deep centerfield with one out.

For the sixth and seventh innings, the Indians were retired in order, not having a base runner.

Circleville took advantage of that in the bottom of the seventh as they walked to start the inning, followed by a sacrifice bunt, and two intentional walks loaded the bases for the potential force out at home. That didn’t matter, as the Tigers hit a sacrifice fly to right field to allow the runner from third to score the walk-off, game-winning run for the 4-3 final score. 

Ethan Humphries was the starting pitcher for the Indians, pitching 5.1 innings. Humphries allowed three runs (three earned) on seven hits, three walks, and totaled one strikeout in the no-decision.

Ethan Watson was charged with the loss. Watson pitched 0.2 innings of relief and into the seventh inning, where he walked the lead-off batter who eventually scored the game-winning run. Watson allowed one run on no hits and two walks.

Ryan Scott pitched 0.2 innings of relief, as he didn’t allow a hit or run, but Circleville had a sacrifice bunt and a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning.

This season, the Indians went from being 6-11 at one point to finishing at 14-12, having the aforementioned eight-game winning streak, which wasn't lost on Garman when reflecting on the season. 

“When you have a young pitching staff and have a lot of young key guys, sometimes your team has to learn how to win baseball games,” Garman said. “Early in the season, we were losing a lot of close ones, and I think it was just that maturation, that education they were going through and learning how to win games at this level. Once they got a taste of it and figured it out, they ran with it. We were just one swing away from a district championship, and hopefully this humbles the guys a little bit and makes them hungry. This offseason, we start eating our soup with a fork and get back to work.”

Seniors for the Indians are Kelton Anderson, Mason Stanley, Payton Bell, Justin Scott and Phillip Mycroft.

“It has been a long time since we’ve played in the district finals (2003), so it was nice to end that drought. It was good for the kids to get this experience as we do have kind of a young team, but the seniors we say goodbye to were some pretty good seniors,” Garman said. “On a personal level, being their JV coach for two years and then bumping up to the varsity level with them the past two years, I’ve spent an awful lot of time with every single one of those guys, and it's hard and it hasn’t hit me just yet. It is going to be tough to say goodbye to those guys.”