Indians lose lead in 7th inning; drop season opener to Unioto
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
Opening the 2018 season, the Hillsboro Indians and Unioto Shermans played a close, back-and-forth baseball game where each took advantage of the other’s miscues and waited for what they wanted at the plate.
Both teams were able to have many base runners, but when it mattered the most, it was Unioto who was able to gain the upper hand with a three-run seventh inning to defeat the Indians by a 6-4 score at Richard Shaffer Park.
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HHS held a one-run lead going into the seventh, but the Shermans rolled through the seventh with a vengeance by scoring three runs off three hits, a sacrifice bunt, a hit by pitch and a groundout RBI to take a win home to Ross County.
Even with the loss to begin the season, Hillsboro head coach Matt Garman saw positives from his team in the first game of the season.
“We did a lot of nice things,” Garman said. “We were down a couple times in the game, and we came back to get a lead both times, but this was a game between two good teams. We beat them last year in extra innings, so we knew this was going to be a tough game, but unfortunately they made a couple more plays on offense than we did.”
The Indians scored the first run of the game in the bottom of the first inning, with the first plate appearance of the season for the Tribe resulting in Mason Stanley being hit by a pitch. He took second base on a passed ball and with two outs scored a run off an errant throw for the 1-0 advantage.
In the top of the second inning, the Shermans took the lead by a 2-1 score with both runs scored on errors.
HHS tied the score in the bottom of the third as Payton Bell rounded the bases for a 2-2 score. Bell led off the inning with a walk. In the top of the fourth inning, the Shermans — who are the reigning Scioto Valley Conference champions — moved the lead back to the visitor’s side of the scoreboard as the Shermans scored a run with two outs off a base hit for the 3-2 advantage.
The Indians had answers for the visiting Shermans with a two-run bottom of the fifth inning as Kelton Anderson led off the inning with a single. He moved to second when Jared Thompson had a base hit in the ensuing at-bat. Anderson scored off an RBI single by Ethan Watson, and Dylan Boone batted in Thompson with a single of his own with one out for the 4-3 lead for the home team Indians.
Hillsboro held the same lead after six innings, but in the top of the seventh, following a pitching change, the Indians allowed three runs to fall behind at 6-4. The Shermans totaled three hits, a hit by pitch and a sacrifice bunt in the inning to regain the lead for good.
The bottom of the seventh saw the Indians take just five total pitches to record three outs, suffering the season-opening loss.
On the mound for the Tribe, Humphries pitched the first six innings, where he had a no-decision. In those six innings, the Hillsboro starter allowed three runs (one earned) on eight hits and one walk. He finished with 85 pitches and struck out five.
“Ethan Humphries did an absolute fantastic job on the mound,” Garman said. “He really settled in, especially after the second inning. He’s really a pure pitcher and hit his spots. He works counts great and mixes up speeds well, really entices the hitter to hit his pitch and he was in control. Unfortunately, he was in line for the win, but we couldn’t get it closed out for him, but that is baseball.”
Justin Scott was charged with the loss. He pitched one inning, allowing three earned runs on three hits and no walks.
At the plate, the Indians totaled five hits, with Ethan Watson going 2-for-4 with two singles. Also with a hit were Anderson, Thompson and Boone.
“Offensively, I thought we had great plate discipline, and we really weren’t chasing pitches and forcing them to come to us,” Garman said. “Maybe twice in the entire game, we had guys swing at a pitch they shouldn’t have, and that is pretty good. I thought we had a lot of opportunities that we missed. We had a lot of runners in scoring position almost every inning, and we had runners left on base almost every inning, so we directly we had opportunities that we didn’t take advantage of, and that was the difference in the game.”
The win on the mound went to Unioto’s Ryan Sigler, who pitched the final three innings of the game. He allowed two runs on four hits and no walks. He struck out two batters and threw 50 pitches in the win.
Starting the game for the Shermans was Harley Patterson, who pitched the four innings. Patterson allowed two runs (none earned) on one hits and five walks. He finished with 92 pitches, two hit batters and struck out nine.
The turnaround is quick for the Indians, as they will be playing at VA Memorial Stadium Tuesday, March 27 against Waverly in non-conference play.
Both teams were able to have many base runners, but when it mattered the most, it was Unioto who was able to gain the upper hand with a three-run seventh inning to defeat the Indians by a 6-4 score at Richard Shaffer Park.
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HHS held a one-run lead going into the seventh, but the Shermans rolled through the seventh with a vengeance by scoring three runs off three hits, a sacrifice bunt, a hit by pitch and a groundout RBI to take a win home to Ross County.
Even with the loss to begin the season, Hillsboro head coach Matt Garman saw positives from his team in the first game of the season.
“We did a lot of nice things,” Garman said. “We were down a couple times in the game, and we came back to get a lead both times, but this was a game between two good teams. We beat them last year in extra innings, so we knew this was going to be a tough game, but unfortunately they made a couple more plays on offense than we did.”
The Indians scored the first run of the game in the bottom of the first inning, with the first plate appearance of the season for the Tribe resulting in Mason Stanley being hit by a pitch. He took second base on a passed ball and with two outs scored a run off an errant throw for the 1-0 advantage.
In the top of the second inning, the Shermans took the lead by a 2-1 score with both runs scored on errors.
HHS tied the score in the bottom of the third as Payton Bell rounded the bases for a 2-2 score. Bell led off the inning with a walk. In the top of the fourth inning, the Shermans — who are the reigning Scioto Valley Conference champions — moved the lead back to the visitor’s side of the scoreboard as the Shermans scored a run with two outs off a base hit for the 3-2 advantage.
The Indians had answers for the visiting Shermans with a two-run bottom of the fifth inning as Kelton Anderson led off the inning with a single. He moved to second when Jared Thompson had a base hit in the ensuing at-bat. Anderson scored off an RBI single by Ethan Watson, and Dylan Boone batted in Thompson with a single of his own with one out for the 4-3 lead for the home team Indians.
Hillsboro held the same lead after six innings, but in the top of the seventh, following a pitching change, the Indians allowed three runs to fall behind at 6-4. The Shermans totaled three hits, a hit by pitch and a sacrifice bunt in the inning to regain the lead for good.
The bottom of the seventh saw the Indians take just five total pitches to record three outs, suffering the season-opening loss.
On the mound for the Tribe, Humphries pitched the first six innings, where he had a no-decision. In those six innings, the Hillsboro starter allowed three runs (one earned) on eight hits and one walk. He finished with 85 pitches and struck out five.
“Ethan Humphries did an absolute fantastic job on the mound,” Garman said. “He really settled in, especially after the second inning. He’s really a pure pitcher and hit his spots. He works counts great and mixes up speeds well, really entices the hitter to hit his pitch and he was in control. Unfortunately, he was in line for the win, but we couldn’t get it closed out for him, but that is baseball.”
Justin Scott was charged with the loss. He pitched one inning, allowing three earned runs on three hits and no walks.
At the plate, the Indians totaled five hits, with Ethan Watson going 2-for-4 with two singles. Also with a hit were Anderson, Thompson and Boone.
“Offensively, I thought we had great plate discipline, and we really weren’t chasing pitches and forcing them to come to us,” Garman said. “Maybe twice in the entire game, we had guys swing at a pitch they shouldn’t have, and that is pretty good. I thought we had a lot of opportunities that we missed. We had a lot of runners in scoring position almost every inning, and we had runners left on base almost every inning, so we directly we had opportunities that we didn’t take advantage of, and that was the difference in the game.”
The win on the mound went to Unioto’s Ryan Sigler, who pitched the final three innings of the game. He allowed two runs on four hits and no walks. He struck out two batters and threw 50 pitches in the win.
Starting the game for the Shermans was Harley Patterson, who pitched the four innings. Patterson allowed two runs (none earned) on one hits and five walks. He finished with 92 pitches, two hit batters and struck out nine.
The turnaround is quick for the Indians, as they will be playing at VA Memorial Stadium Tuesday, March 27 against Waverly in non-conference play.