Hillsboro Indians win FAC baseball championship
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
Being called baseball conference champions has been a decade in the making, but the Hillsboro Indians are outright conference champions once again, this time winning the Frontier Athletic Conference title in its second year of existence.
The Indians last won a conference championship in baseball back in 2010 when they were co-champions with the McClain Tigers, but the last time they won an outright conference was back in 2009, with both of those championships coming in the now-defunct South Central Ohio League (SCOL).
On Monday — one week following their second conference loss of the season — the Indians dominated the first two innings of the game against Highland County and FAC rival McClain by scoring five runs in the first inning and three more runs in the second for what stood as the final 8-0 lead.
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“I feel so fortunate to be here coaching this team, and I’m so proud of these guys. Out here in the stands, we had a couple guys here who played here before at Hillsboro in Hunter Chain and Cayse Cameron, who came back to support us,” Hillsboro head coach Matt Garman said. “This has been a decade in the making. The senior group, when they got here as freshmen from then to now — I’ve never seen a senior group work so hard.
“They worked hard to be where they are. Teams and players of the past have bought into everything we were selling and were great leaders. The seniors last year took it and ran with it, and this year these seniors are finally seeing that commitment and that leadership and that mentality all pay off. It is really a win for all the guys who have graduated the past couple years, and as I’ve said, I’m proud of these guys.”
A big part of the Indians winning the game at Shaffer Park on Monday was the pitching of junior Luke Magulac. The FAC Baseball Player of the Year, Magulac pitched a complete game of seven innings. He allowed no runs on one hit and one walk, while striking out seven batters with the 91 total pitches thrown in the game.
The ace of the Indians’ pitching staff, Magulac struck out at least one batter in six of the seven innings he was on the mound, and in the fifth inning he collected two strikeouts. Magulac ended the game by striking out the final batter of the game.
“This was by far Luke’s best game of the year, and the scary thing is I think Luke has better stuff,” Garman said. “Having said that, it was a good hitting team we faced, and he held them to (one) hit. Give McClain credit, they made a couple errors, we took advantage, but after the second inning they shut us down too.
“McClain is a solid team, and they have a nice matchup in the tournament and it will be interesting to see how it plays out.”
The Indians (8-2, 13-5) put the scoreboard to work in the bottom of the first with Ethan Watson (2-for-3, two runs) opening the Indians’ half of the first by being hit by a pitch on a 1-2 count. Next, Grant Crum reached first base safely on a single as an infield pop up landed in between multiple McClain players as it was lost in the sunlight.
Hillsboro loaded the bases with a single to centerfield by Jared Thompson as he went 2-for-4 with two runs in the game. The Indians began their path to scoring runs with a single to right field off the bat of Dylan Boone on what was the sixth pitch of the at-bat. Following the first out of the game, an infield error by the Tigers scored Crum as Ryan Scott took first base.
Next came a single on a 0-2 count by Magulac to plate Thompson for a 3-0 lead. A single to the outfield by Brock Haines then sent Scott and Magulac around the bases for two more Hillsboro runs and a 5-0 lead.
In the bottom of the second inning, the Indians had Watson take first base off a lead-off single to centerfield, followed by Thompson equaling the feat with a single to centerfield of his own. Boone (2-for-3, one run, two RBI) came through with a one-out double to score Watson, making it a 6-0 Indians lead.
After the Tigers made a pitching change, the Indians struck out looking for the second out, but that didn’t matter to Hillsboro with Scott hitting a two-out, two-RBI single to centerfield, scoring both Thompson and Boone for the 8-0 final score.
Hillsboro senior Ethan Humphries spoke for the Indians team as well following the win, talking about how it was their goal since day one this season to win the conference.
“We had goals day one in the gym, and one of our goals was to be league champs before anything, and tonight we got that done and put in the work all year,” Humphries said. “I’m just proud for my teammates. Coach Garman and Coach Richards pushed us all year, and I’m happy we are FAC champs this year.
“It means so much to us because we haven’t had a league championship in 10 years, so it isn’t just for us, but for the guys before us, so I’m happy and proud of my teammates.”
As for McClain, they finish the FAC schedule 5-5 as they won their first five conference games and lost their final five conference games played.
The Indians ended the game with 10 hits and two walks. McClain had one hit off the bat of Austin Booth and walked once as John Salyers reached the bases in the first inning with two outs on a five-pitch at-bat.
“Everybody is starting to turn it around and starting to hit,” Garman said. “In the middle of the season, everyone was struggling at the plate. We won a lot of games 1-0, 2-0, but we are starting to drive the baseball and that is good. Hopefully that continues, especially after we had a week off.
“We had to sit on that Miami Trace loss for a week, and you could tell they were ready to play and were tired of sitting on that loss.”
McClain’s pitching loss was charged to Mason Ratcliff, who in 1.1 innings on the mound allowed eight runs (five earned) on eight hits and no walks. Sam Faulconer pitched 4.2 innings of relief, allowing no runs on two hits and two walks. Both McClain pitchers combined for 103 pitches in six combined innings.
As for the Indians, they still have a week until their tournament-opening game against the No. 6 seeded Fairfield Union Falcons, which will be Monday, May 13 at 5 p.m. at Shaffer Park in the sectional semifinals.
“We still have three regular-season games left, so you start finding ways to put pressure on the guys for the next three games because when tournament time rolls around, every pitch has pressure on it. It is survive and advance, and that’s it,” Garman said. “Obviously we are going to keep trying to win ball games. Keep playing good baseball is the most important thing, and we look to finish the season out strong and be in a good mental spot to be ready for next Monday.”
The Tigers will also play in the tournament Monday, May 13, traveling to face FAC counterpart Miami Trace at 5 p.m.
The Indians last won a conference championship in baseball back in 2010 when they were co-champions with the McClain Tigers, but the last time they won an outright conference was back in 2009, with both of those championships coming in the now-defunct South Central Ohio League (SCOL).
On Monday — one week following their second conference loss of the season — the Indians dominated the first two innings of the game against Highland County and FAC rival McClain by scoring five runs in the first inning and three more runs in the second for what stood as the final 8-0 lead.
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“I feel so fortunate to be here coaching this team, and I’m so proud of these guys. Out here in the stands, we had a couple guys here who played here before at Hillsboro in Hunter Chain and Cayse Cameron, who came back to support us,” Hillsboro head coach Matt Garman said. “This has been a decade in the making. The senior group, when they got here as freshmen from then to now — I’ve never seen a senior group work so hard.
“They worked hard to be where they are. Teams and players of the past have bought into everything we were selling and were great leaders. The seniors last year took it and ran with it, and this year these seniors are finally seeing that commitment and that leadership and that mentality all pay off. It is really a win for all the guys who have graduated the past couple years, and as I’ve said, I’m proud of these guys.”
A big part of the Indians winning the game at Shaffer Park on Monday was the pitching of junior Luke Magulac. The FAC Baseball Player of the Year, Magulac pitched a complete game of seven innings. He allowed no runs on one hit and one walk, while striking out seven batters with the 91 total pitches thrown in the game.
The ace of the Indians’ pitching staff, Magulac struck out at least one batter in six of the seven innings he was on the mound, and in the fifth inning he collected two strikeouts. Magulac ended the game by striking out the final batter of the game.
“This was by far Luke’s best game of the year, and the scary thing is I think Luke has better stuff,” Garman said. “Having said that, it was a good hitting team we faced, and he held them to (one) hit. Give McClain credit, they made a couple errors, we took advantage, but after the second inning they shut us down too.
“McClain is a solid team, and they have a nice matchup in the tournament and it will be interesting to see how it plays out.”
The Indians (8-2, 13-5) put the scoreboard to work in the bottom of the first with Ethan Watson (2-for-3, two runs) opening the Indians’ half of the first by being hit by a pitch on a 1-2 count. Next, Grant Crum reached first base safely on a single as an infield pop up landed in between multiple McClain players as it was lost in the sunlight.
Hillsboro loaded the bases with a single to centerfield by Jared Thompson as he went 2-for-4 with two runs in the game. The Indians began their path to scoring runs with a single to right field off the bat of Dylan Boone on what was the sixth pitch of the at-bat. Following the first out of the game, an infield error by the Tigers scored Crum as Ryan Scott took first base.
Next came a single on a 0-2 count by Magulac to plate Thompson for a 3-0 lead. A single to the outfield by Brock Haines then sent Scott and Magulac around the bases for two more Hillsboro runs and a 5-0 lead.
In the bottom of the second inning, the Indians had Watson take first base off a lead-off single to centerfield, followed by Thompson equaling the feat with a single to centerfield of his own. Boone (2-for-3, one run, two RBI) came through with a one-out double to score Watson, making it a 6-0 Indians lead.
After the Tigers made a pitching change, the Indians struck out looking for the second out, but that didn’t matter to Hillsboro with Scott hitting a two-out, two-RBI single to centerfield, scoring both Thompson and Boone for the 8-0 final score.
Hillsboro senior Ethan Humphries spoke for the Indians team as well following the win, talking about how it was their goal since day one this season to win the conference.
“We had goals day one in the gym, and one of our goals was to be league champs before anything, and tonight we got that done and put in the work all year,” Humphries said. “I’m just proud for my teammates. Coach Garman and Coach Richards pushed us all year, and I’m happy we are FAC champs this year.
“It means so much to us because we haven’t had a league championship in 10 years, so it isn’t just for us, but for the guys before us, so I’m happy and proud of my teammates.”
As for McClain, they finish the FAC schedule 5-5 as they won their first five conference games and lost their final five conference games played.
The Indians ended the game with 10 hits and two walks. McClain had one hit off the bat of Austin Booth and walked once as John Salyers reached the bases in the first inning with two outs on a five-pitch at-bat.
“Everybody is starting to turn it around and starting to hit,” Garman said. “In the middle of the season, everyone was struggling at the plate. We won a lot of games 1-0, 2-0, but we are starting to drive the baseball and that is good. Hopefully that continues, especially after we had a week off.
“We had to sit on that Miami Trace loss for a week, and you could tell they were ready to play and were tired of sitting on that loss.”
McClain’s pitching loss was charged to Mason Ratcliff, who in 1.1 innings on the mound allowed eight runs (five earned) on eight hits and no walks. Sam Faulconer pitched 4.2 innings of relief, allowing no runs on two hits and two walks. Both McClain pitchers combined for 103 pitches in six combined innings.
As for the Indians, they still have a week until their tournament-opening game against the No. 6 seeded Fairfield Union Falcons, which will be Monday, May 13 at 5 p.m. at Shaffer Park in the sectional semifinals.
“We still have three regular-season games left, so you start finding ways to put pressure on the guys for the next three games because when tournament time rolls around, every pitch has pressure on it. It is survive and advance, and that’s it,” Garman said. “Obviously we are going to keep trying to win ball games. Keep playing good baseball is the most important thing, and we look to finish the season out strong and be in a good mental spot to be ready for next Monday.”
The Tigers will also play in the tournament Monday, May 13, traveling to face FAC counterpart Miami Trace at 5 p.m.