Late-inning comebacks soar and sink Trojans

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN DON RATZLAFF
Oh, how hard the tables turn.

Only a few hours after experiencing the euphoria of winning a game in their last at-bat, Hillsboro let a five-run lead slip through the fingers in the bottom of the seventh and lost the regional championship to Southeast of Saline, 9-8, Wednesday evening on the winner’s home field.

The turning point of the game may have come at the end of the fifth inning, when Hillsboro ace Jerod Metcalf reached his limit of innings for the day.

At the time, he and his teammates were sitting pretty on a 5-0 lead against a second-seeded, state-ranked Southeast team that had battered Beloit, 17-0, in the semifinals.

In what became a microcosm of the entire season, Hillsboro simply couldn’t find consistent pitching beyond Metcalf.

Layne Frick, who had been effective in the final innings of Hillsboro’s semifinals win over Lyons, surrendered a one-out solo home run to Southeast’s Dan Carr to start the sixth.

A walk, an error by Metcalf at second base, and an infield hit loaded the bases for Adam Ptacek, who laced a double that scored two runs and cut Hillsboro’s lead to 5-3.

When Frick beaned the next batter, Dustin Jost relieved him and then beaned the next hitter to load the bases. But Jost got Jordan Dupes to pop out to end the inning.

Undaunted, Hillsboro rallied in the top of the seventh with three runs of their own to push the lead back to five at 8-3. Kris Jones’ bases-loaded, two-run double was the big hit.

But the lead would not be safe on this day.

After Southeast’s leadoff hitter reached base on a bad-hop single to start the seventh, Jost walked the next three hitters to force in a run.

With the bases still loaded, Frick returned to the mound and gave up a two-run double down the left-field line to Scott Echer.

After Ptacek’s sacrifice fly drove in a run to close the gap to 8-7, Kyle Hartman reached first on an error by Jost, who had returned to shortstop.

Echer scored the tying run when a back-pedaling Metcalf, playing second base, couldn’t glove Kerry Kozlow’s pop fly in shallow center. Dupes then ended the game with a base hit to left that scored Hartman with the winning run.

With Metcalf on the mound, the Trojans had played brilliantly through the first five innings.

Hillsboro took a 2-0 lead in the second inning when Graham Ratzlaff, with two outs, singled off the leg of the pitcher, Jones walked, Coates singled to score Ratzlaff, and Jost made it to first on a bad-hop single that drove in Jones.

Jost’s triple in the fourth inning pushed Hillsboro’s lead to 3-0, scoring Jones, who had reached first on a throwing error.

The lead grew to 4-0 in the fifth when Frick singled to center with one out to drive in James Bina, who had doubled to lead off the inning.

Jost’s second triple of the game pushed the lead to 5-0, again driving in Jones, who had singled to lead off the sixth inning.

“Had Metcalf been able to go the full seven, in the back of my mind I’m thinking we would have probably won that ball game,” Oelke said. “I think they certainly would have gotten on to him and gotten some runs, but I don’t think they wouldn’t have had that big surge. But that’s how the game goes.

“I told them I’m just as proud of them as I have been of any team,” he added. “A lot of people didn’t give us much of a shot going into this thing, with Lyons and Southeast ranked as high as they were.

“We did a lot of things really well,” he said. “I’m really excited with some of the things the kids have done this season.”

HHS 16, Lyons 12

Hillsboro brought their championship hopes back from the dead by scoring seven runs after two outs in their final at-bat to win their semifinal game against the tournament’s top-seed.

Trailing 12-8 in the top of the seventh, the Trojan cause looked bleak against Lyons’ ace hurler Elijah Rummler, who had held the Trojans to one run through two innings of relief work-a notable feat on a day when strong winds turned every pop-up and fly ball into an adventure, and runs were scored in bunches.

But the biggest bunch was yet to come.

Trojan leadoff hitter Dustin Jost lofted a ball into the jet stream for a home run to start the seventh. But when Andy Brubacher struck out and Jerod Metcalf grounded out to the pitcher, the Trojans suddenly were down to their last out.

Fortunately, that out didn’t come until 10 batters later.

James Bina led the parade with a walk. After Shawn Hughbanks reached on an error, Layne Frick singled to right to score Bina and close the gap to 12-10.

Designated-hitter Graham Ratzlaff then stroked a triple that tied the game at 12 when Hughbanks and Frick crossed the plate. Ratzlaff put the Trojans on top when Kris Jones blooped a single to right to bring him home.

After Ronn Coates caught a Rummler pitch off the back of his batting helmet, Jost singled to score Jones. Coates and Jost advanced to third and second on the throw to the plate. Brubacher put the final runs on the board when his single to center drove in Coates and Jost to make the score 16-12.

Relief pitcher Frick gave up a pair of hits in the bottom of the seventh, but a Jost-to-Ben Walker double-play combination took care of one base runner and two outs. Walker then ended the game by recording an unassisted out at first base.

The game was a seesaw affair from the start.

Lyons took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first with a walk and two singles off Jost, who started on the mound for Hillsboro.

The Trojans came back with four runs in the top of the third to take a 4-2 lead, but Lyons came back with six runs in the bottom of the inning on the strength of a three-run homer by Brian Hecker to reclaim the lead, 8-4.

Frick’s two-run double in the fourth sparked a three-run rally, to bring the Trojans back to within one run at 8-7.

But Lyons lengthened its lead to 11-7 in the bottom of the fourth with two doubles and two singles off Metcalf, who had relieved Jost with one out back in the third inning.

Hillsboro added one more run in the top of the fifth, then Lyons made the score 12-8 with a run in the bottom of the sixth.

“It was an up-and-down roller-coaster,” coach Phil Oelke said. “It went back and forth-I don’t think either team really settled into a groove. Lyons kind of did early, but we were kind of off and on.

“The guys just hung in there,” he added. That’s almost been a trademark of Hillsboro athletes. They get down, but they never seem to tense up or lock up. They naturally keep their heads up and stay levelheaded. We did what we needed to do to win the ball game.”

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