Legion squad goes 1-3 for second week vs. Lyons, Lindsborg

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN DON RATZLAFF
Hillsboro Post 366 salvaged one victory from a pair of back-to-back doubleheaders last week against two quality opponents.

On Tuesday, Hillsboro split a pair of games at Lyons, winning the opener 12-9 and then losing a heartbreaker, 12-11.

The following evening, Post 366 was swept at home by a Lindsborg-based all-star team, 11-2 and 15-3.

The 1-3 record matched the outcome of the previous week against the same two teams, and put Hillsboro’s season record at 9-7.

Lyons-In Game 1, Chad Hughbanks pitched five strong innings in relief and benefited from a late five-run rally to enable Hillsboro’s 12-9 win.

The game started as a back-and-forth run-fest. Hillsboro scored two runs in the first inning, then Lyons responded with three. Post 366 added four runs in the second, but Lyons came back with two in both the second and third innings.

Hillsboro starting pitcher Adam Scheele struggled with his control, offering up six walks and five wild pitches through two full innings plus two batters into the third inning.

At that point, Hughbanks came in and gave up a walk and a double, but used two strikeouts to retire the side with Lyons leading, 7-6. All seven runs were charged to Scheele.

With Hughbanks keeping Lyons off the board, Hillsboro came up in the top of the seventh with the score tied at 7.

Daniel Jost was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. Hughbanks and Justin Moore followed with consecutive doubles and Clayton Garnica, Travis Riesen and Jake Liles added singles to fuel the five-run rally.

Lyons scored twice in the home half of the inning, but Hughbanks and his teammates hung on for the win.

Post 366 saw an opportunity for a doubleheader sweep slip through its fingers in Game 2 when the host team rallied for four runs in the bottom of the seventh to swipe the 12-11 victory.

Hillsboro had taken a 9-4 lead with a four-run surge in the top of the fifth inning-all of which started with two outs.

A walk to Hughbanks, consecutive errors by Lyons on balls hit by Moore and Garnica and a single by Liles accounted for the scoring.

But Lyons pulled back to within one run with four scores in its half of the inning against pitchers Liles and Jost, who came on in relief.

After a scoreless sixth inning, Hillsboro pushed across two more runs in the seventh. Jost contributed a leadoff single and Moore was hit by a pitch with one out. After Garnica struck out, Scheele singled and the runners advanced on an error to give Post 366 an 11-8 lead and setting the stage for Lyons’ last-at-bat heroics.

Coach Lyman Adams said the Game 2 loss was disappointing, but he liked with the way his team battled all evening.

“Both games were kind of a seesaw,” he said. “The boys kept coming back. I was really pleased with the way they rallied with two outs and nobody on base, and then come up and score two or three runs.”

While he struggled on the mound, Scheele had a great night at the plate, finishing 6-for-7, including a triple in Game 2. Hughbanks went 3-for-4 in Game 1 and 1-for-3 in the nitecap.

As a team, Hillsboro pounded out 24 hits for the evening.

“Overall, the boys played well,” Adams said. “As always with summer ball, every night you have a different lineup. That’s also the good part about summer ball because they can play different positions.”

Lindsborg-Though neither loss on Wednesday was close, Coach Lyman Adams thought his team made progress against the stacked team from Lindsborg. A week earlier, his team endured a 16-2, 19-0 thrashing.

“We played a lot better than we did when we played them at Lindsborg,” Adams said. “We knew it was going to be very, very tough. But the boys hit the ball, and that was the key. When we played up there, I think we had 20 strikeouts out of 27 outs.”

Add to the mix the challenge of finding enough pitching for consecutive doubleheaders-even without losing starting pitcher/catcher Travis Riesen to an injury the previous evening.

“We scrambled,” Adams said.

In Game 1, Clayton Garnica made the start and lasted two innings before a sore arm set him on the bench. Daniel Berg took over in the third inning with Hillsboro trailing 5-2, and threw the final three innings in the 11-2 loss.

Hillsboro scored its runs after Lindsborg jumped to a 4-0 lead in its first at-bat. Jake Liles led off with a single. One out later, Garnica doubled and Justin Moore singled him home. Moore later scored on a Lindsborg error.

In Game 2, Lindsborg opened with six runs against starter Lucas Hamm, who walked four batters and gave up four hits in two-thirds of an inning.

Aaron Stepanek relieved him at that point and got the final out. But Stepanek surrendered seven runs over the next two innings on three hits, six walks and one hit batter.

Dustin Burnett pitched the fourth and last inning, surrendering two runs on three hits and a walk for the 15-3 final score.

“The advantage they have over a team like we have is that their one through nine (players in the lineup) are all mature, older kids who play a lot of ball and can hit the ball,” Adams said.

“In our lineup, we have some 15-year-olds and 16-year-olds-not that they aren’t good ball players, but maturity-wise, there is a difference.”

As in Game 1, Hillsboro started well at the plate in Game 2, scoring all three of its runs. In consecutive order, Stepanek was hit by a pitch, Liles singled, Justin Moore walked, Adam Scheele singled, Tyler Goldsby was hit by a pitch, Dustin Burnett singled and Alex Nuss doubled before Berg made the third out.

The previous two outs came on the base paths.

For the night, Hillsboro managed 11 hits against a talented foe.

“I was pleased with the boys’ attitude and the way they swung the bat,” Adams said. “There was tough pitching no matter who they threw at us, and the boys stepped up there and hit the ball.

“We easily could have scored some more runs, but we just couldn’t get the hit when we had runners on base.”

Coming-Hillsboro was scheduled to play a home doubleheader against Moundridge on Monday, but results were not available because of the early holiday publishing deadline.

On Thursday, Post 366 is scheduled to play two games at Chase County before traveling to Moundridge on Saturday for another doubleheader.

Hillsboro will end its regular season Monday, July 10, with one nine-game against Chase County at Memorial Field.

The following Wednesday, Hillsboro will host the District 4 tournament.

More from article archives
LETTERS: Readers wonders what new crossing signs at Tabor College really signal
ORIGINALLY WRITTEN MIKE AND LISA ALLEN – HILLSBORO This week when the...
Read More