Wilson K's 14; Post 129 gains league victory

EBER — Joey Wilson was nearly flawless on the mound for Hillsboro Post 129 on Wednesday against the Aces of Washington C.H. Post 25.

Wilson struck out 14 batters en route to a 3-0 victory, the fourth win in five games for the visitors.

Hillsboro also won on Tuesday against the Cincinnati Fury in Xenia by a 7-4 score. The two wins by Hillsboro move them to 8-13 on the season.

In the game played at Miami Trace High School on Wednesday, Post 129 didn't waste much time taking the lead and scoring runs, as they built a two-run advantage in the second inning.

"We've carried over from what we did over the weekend and hit the ball," Post 129 head coach Scott Morgan said. "Since that game against Troy on Saturday, we have just kept rolling at the plate.

"We are hitting the ball a lot better and had the timely hits we needed. I would like to see a little more, but we got them when it counted."

In the top of the second with two outs, Nick Bush doubled to left field on a line drive, then eventually took third on a passed ball. Latrell Haithcock took first after being hit by a pitch.

Both runners scored on a base hit to centerfield by Morgan Ryan for what was the 2-0 advantage.

Hillsboro (8-13) scored one more time in the top of the fifth with Jared Halley singling to right field with one out. He moved to third on a passed ball and scored on a two-out double to left-centerfield by Zach Cox, taking advantage of Post 25 moving up in the outfield by sending the ball to the fence.

Post 129 finished with eight hits, with Blake Hildebrant going 2-for-4. Also with hits were Jared Halley, Ty Crum and Haithcock.

That was the scoring, but the show for this game was the pitching by Wilson, who pitched what may be his best game of the summer thus far.

Wilson gained the complete game shutout win by allowing no runs on just two hits and no walks. Wilson faced 23 batters, two batters over the minimum.

As for his strikeouts, he struck out 10 via the swing and had four called third strikes. Post 25 didn't have a hit until the third inning.

"Joey pitched a heck of a game (Wednesday), and the defense had his back," Morgan said.

In the first, he struck out the batter for the final out of the inning, followed by striking out five of the next six batters in the second and third innings, including the side in the second.

In the fourth, Wilson added two more strikeouts, then struck out three consecutive batters again in the fifth, adding up two five straight K's in the fourth and fifth innings.

There was one strikeout in the sixth, and he finished the game by retiring the final two batters with strikeouts.

The win puts Hillsboro at 4-5 in the summer SCOL with one league game left vs. Waverly later this season.

Hillsboro is scheduled to play a doubleheader on Thursday against Lancaster at Beavers Field.