Prior to Friday?s Game 2 win over Marion that broke the Hillsboro baseball team?s 11-game losing streak, the Trojans struggled through a pair of doubleheaders earlier in the week.
The six-games-in-five-days challenge began Mon?day with a doubleheader against Kingman after rain forced postponement of the games Friday.
The Eagles won the opener, 6-1, with single runs in the second and third innings off starter Austin Cross (0-2), then two-run innings in the fifth and sixth against reliever Braden Vogt.
Cross struck out four of the first five hitters he faced to start the game, but then walked four batters in a row to force in a run before posting his fifth strikeout.
A walk and an error by Cross in the third inning contributed to Kingman?s second run, which scored on a passed ball.
Cross was pulled after four innings because of pitch count. Vogt was greeted by a pair of singles. Both base runners eventually scored for a 4-0 lead.
The Trojans scored in the bottom of the fifth. With two outs, Jakob Hanschu reached first on a fielder?s choice, advanced on a passed ball and then scored on Cross?s single to left.
That turned out to be the only offense the Trojans could muster. The team finished with five hits for the game against Kingman starter Logan Adelhardt.
Hillsboro could not close the deal after an excellent pitching start by Hanschu in Game 2. The senior pitched 52?3 innings of shutout baseball before giving up an unearned run that tied the contest 1-1.
Hillsboro had scored in the fourth inning when Cross singled with two outs, then scored on three passed balls.
Hanschu completed 71?3 innings before he was relieved by Ryan Stepanek and eventually Kaden Kleiner. Kingman responded with a six-run rally to steal the win.
The Trojans managed only two hits in Game 2 and struck out 12 times in seven innings against Larned starter, Clayton Claycomb.
After playing two games the previous day, Hillsboro was little competition for league-leading Larned. The Indians prevailed, 12-0 and 18-3 as coach Doug Dick rested his best pitchers in preparation for Friday?s doubleheader at Marion.
Larned pitchers allowed only six hits for the night. Stepanek (0-1) and David Dick (0-1) absorbed the pitching losses for the Trojans.
Coming?Hillsboro (1-11) was scheduled to play at Nickerson Tuesday, then will travel to Mount Hope to play Haven Friday.
?Going into this week, I feel pretty good about our next two doubleheaders,? coach Doug Dick said. ?Hope??fully we can get a split (against Nickerson) and then on Friday we play Haven, which is a team that?s very sweep-able if we?re playing well.
?The attitude the last couple of doubleheaders has been really, really good,? he added. ?I think it did a lot for our morale as a team to get that win (against Marion).?
