It’s been a rocky road thus far for the Hillsboro Varsity Baseball team, who traveled to play Gateway Legacy Academy on Friday, April 1st. The Hawks found themselves on the wrong end of a late rally and lost 6-3 in the five-inning affair.
Gateway jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning, but Hillsboro answered back in the top half of the second. After a walk, a single and a sacrifice bunt, Kobe Stacy drove a pitch to center field for a single and an RBI. Up next, Jaxin Patterson then doubled to right field to drive in the second run of the inning, to take the lead 2-1. However, the lead didn’t last long as Gateway tied it in the bottom half 2-2.
In the top of the fourth, Hillsboro used a little finesse to push a run across the plate. A walk, a single and a walk set up Keynen Drury, who put the ball in play with a grounder to the second baseman that plated Jaxon Day to regain the lead 3-2. Again, the differential didn’t stand, as Gateway heated up in the bottom of the inning and racked up four, giving them a 6-3 victory.
Offensively, the Hawks had three runs on six hits, including two base knocks from Gavin Hite. Patterson, Drury and Stacy each had one hit and one RBI, while Austin Romaine added a hit.
There wasn’t a lot of positives to note from the mound. Hite pitched 3.1 innings and battled hard, but gave up five runs on seven hits to take the loss before handing the ball off to Ronald Pratt.
With the loss, the Hawks fall to 2-3 on the season and will have to get over the defeat quickly, as they have five games scheduled for this week, starting Monday against Parkway South. It’s still early in the season, and there is a lot more baseball to play, but the bats need to get going if the Hawks want to stay relevant in the division.
