Errors haunt Indians in season-opening loss

HILLSBORO — A combined 14 errors for throwing and fielding turned out to be a big miscommunication for the Hillsboro Indians in their season opener.
 
With their Saturday game being a rainout, the Indians opened the '12 season with a 12-5 loss, Monday against the Unioto Shermans at Shaffer Park.
 
Besides the miscues in the field (10 of the 14 errors were in the field), the Indians suffered a few setbacks as well, with Brandon Wilson being hit in the face on a bad hop by the baseball at short, third baseman Tyler Griego pulling a leg muscle and first baseman Trevor Gleadle breaking his finger after getting hit in the hand by a baseball, all of which happened on Monday.
 
"We have to realize it only game one, and I told the guys the good thing is we get to play again tomorrow," Hillsboro head coach Tim Hunt said.
 
The inning that hurt the worst for the Indians was the fourth inning, when they allowed eight runs, as the inning began with HHS leading 2-1 with a run scored by Griego in the second and a run from Kyler White in the third.
 
In the eight-run fourth by the Shermans, UHS opened with a double from the nine-spot of the order, and from there it got no better for the Tribe as they committed just one error that inning but allowed six hits in the inning, allowing the aforementioned eight runs to cross the plate.
 
"The whole thing with the fourth inning was we lost our composure," Hunt said. "We've talked about that the whole offseason, and we can't let that continue to happen.
 
"We have to get back to basic fundamentals because some of the things we did today … we don't teach that. I will say though, the first three innings we played, that was beautiful baseball."
 
UHS added two more runs in the sixth and one more in the seventh.
 
For HHS, their best inning came in the fifth with two runs. Those runs were scored by Levi Fleming and Corey Walker.
 
At the plate, HHS finished with eight hits, while UHS also totaled 10 hits.
 
Kyler White led the way for HHS with a 3-for-4 day at the plate, including one double and two singles. Also gaining hits were Levi Fleming, Corey Walker (1-for-2, two walks), Paul Snyder (1-for-2, double, SAC and HBP), Griego (triple, SAC), and Chase Gilliland.
 
The sacrifice fly by Snyder in the fourth brought home White for a run and RBI, then making the score 2-1 in favor of HHS.

The loss on the mound was charged to Walker.
 
The Indians are scheduled to play again on Tuesday when they travel to face East Clinton in a non-league game at 5 p.m.