Indians rally too late against Miami Trace

HILLSBORO — A two-run home run by Hillsboro senior Trey Moberly with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning was the bright moment in an otherwise game of miscues for the Hillsboro Indians Monday night.

The South Central Ohio League game against the SCOL-leading Miami Trace Panthers saw the Indians unofficially commit at least nine errors in what was an 11-7 loss at Shaffer Park.

Errors were the name of the game for the host Indians (2-1, 5-4), and it was the Panthers who took complete advantage of the extra outs and runners the Indians' defense gave them.

"The last three games. the fielding has been awful," HHS head coach Tim Hunt said. "Against Little Miami, we had 18 errors in the doubleheader, and tonight we had at least nine errors, maybe more.

"We have to take care of the baseball, and we have (Tuesday) off, so we are going to work on our defense. We are putting the ball into play offensively, which is good to see, but we still have to play defense. Our pitchers need to throw better off-speed, anyone can hit a fastball. We just didn't mix in our pitches well, so we'll have to work on that as well."

The first inning was tied between the two SCOL rivals, and it was Hillsboro who led the game after two innings by a 4-3 score.

In those first two innings for Hillsboro, Moberly scored their first run of the game. The senior singled, stole second, moved to third on a ground out and scored on a ground out by Cayse Cameron.

Moberly finished 4-for-4 with three runs, two stolen bases and two RBIs in the loss. For the game, HHS totaled five hits with Ryan Hagan having the other hit in the seventh inning.

The second inning saw Ryan Lemaster, Hagan and Jesse Walker all cross home plate for the Indians, with all three runners reaching base without a hit between them. The runners took the bases on a hit-by pitch, a walk and an error.

Miami Trace took advantage of the aforementioned defensive play by the Indians with one run in the third, four runs in the fourth, one in the fifth and topped it off with two final runs in the top of the sixth inning.

HHS responded with Moberly scoring on a wild pitch in the fifth, and then the two-run homer by Moberly occurred in the bottom of the seventh.

At the plate, the Indians struck out nine times, while MT batters were struck out eight times by Hillsboro pitching. The lone walk for HHS was forced by Hagan, and the Indians were hit by a pitch on two occasions (Lemaster, Cole Reveal).

Pitching for the Indians were Lemaster and Cameron.

HHS will play again on Wednesday when they host the Chillicothe Cavaliers at Shaffer Park in SCOL play.