The Hillsboro Hawks JV baseball team picked up four more wins this week, spanning May 3rd through the 9th. It began with a 10-9 extra-innings nail-biter against Webster Groves. Ronald Pratt was given the nod to start and went four innings and gave up four runs on as many hits. Pratt struck out six and walked two. Jaxin Patterson, Peyton Willeford and Cole Johnston all appeared in relief, with Patterson picking up the win.
Christian Groner started the Hillsboro scoring in the bottom of the first when he poked a single in to left field and scored on another single from Patterson. Stephen Reynolds then hit a double to score Patterson and the Hawks had a 2-0 lead to enter the second.
Thomas Foerster drew a walk in the second, moved to second on a Groner single and then stole third base. He scored on an error to put the score at 3-0. The Statesmen rallied in the fourth inning and actually took a 4-3 lead, but Hillsboro had an answer.
Willeford hit a leadoff single up the middle and back-to-back doubles from Foerster and Ethan Prasuhn made it 5-4. Webster struck right back in the top of the fifth with four more runs to bring the score to 8-5. The Hawks chipped away at that lead in the bottom of the fifth with a Patterson single. Patterson stole second, then stole third and a productive ground out from Prasuhn scored him to make it 8-6 Webster.
The Statesmen scored their final run of the game in the sixth, but in the bottom of the seventh with one out, Hillsboro rallied to tie the game. Singles from Patterson, Prasuhn and a walk from Reynolds loaded the bases up for Canyon Stout, who dropped a single into right field to score Patterson. Prasuhn and Reynolds scored on an error and the game was tied 9-9 going in to extras.
Groner drew a walk in the bottom of the eighth and moved to second on an error. Pratt grounded out, but moved Groner to third, who went on to score the winning run on a wild pitch.
The second game of the week was a three-inning short game despite the Hawks falling behind 3-0 in the first inning. Nathan Beck got the start for Hillsboro with Blake Larson and Willeford in relief. Each pitcher went one inning with Beck picking up the win with two Ks and 3 walks.
A bat-around second inning with a parade of singles was all it took for Hillsboro to pull away for good. Reynolds and Stout singled back-to-back, with Johnston drawing a five-pitch walk. Beck and Jack Luster reached base on singles of their own, as did Pratt and Patterson. Prasuhn made a productive ground out and Reynolds came back to the plate for the second time in the inning. Of course, he singled again, as did Stout, and the Hawks had seven runs in one inning and that was all it took to win the game 7-3.
Hillsboro took on Windsor for the third game of the week and shut out the Owls 7-0.
Kyle Turman led the Hawks to victory on the hill. Turman lasted six and a third innings, allowing six hits and zero runs while striking out three. Reynolds threw two-thirds of an inning in relief out of the bullpen.
Hillsboro had 10 hits in the game, with four of those coming in the first inning where the Hawks scored two of their runs. Groner, Patterson and Prasuhn all had singles to load the bases, and a double from Stout brought in two runs. Kobe Stacy drew a walk to lead off the second and Larson tagged a triple to center field to score him. A productive ground out from Groner scored Stacy and Hillsboro found themselves up 4-0.
Patterson led off the fifth with a single and a stolen base. Back-to-back doubles from Reynolds and Stout, and a single from Foerster scored three total runs and the Hawks went on to win the game 7-0.
The final game of the week was the second of two games against Windsor. Stout led Hillsboro to a 7-2 victory over the Owls with a four-hit night. Larson was on the bump for the Hawks, and allowed three hits and two runs over five innings, striking out four. Reynolds threw two innings in relief out of the bullpen to earn the save.
Hillsboro got things started right at the beginning, when Groner led off the game with a four-pitch walk. Elliott Puhse and Patterson singled to load the bases before Prasuhn ripped a triple to right field to empty them and put the team up 3-0.
Windsor got both of their runs in the second inning, but Hillsboro stepped on the gas and never looked back. Stout roped a double with two outs in the third and then took third and home as soon as he could. Foerster drew a walk and took second and third back-to-back. A single from Stacy brought him in and made the score 5-2.
Stout got another double in the bottom of the fifth and scored on an error to make the game 6-2. The final run of the game came when Patterson reached base on an error, took second on a ground out, third on a passed ball and came home on Stout’s third double of the game for the final score of 7-2.
Hillsboro JV’s final game of the regular season comes on Wednesday May 12th when they travel to GCS Ballpark to face off against the Jefferson R-7 Blue Jays at 6:30pm.
