Hillsboro, Marion split two games

Hillsboro first baseman Jacob Funk secures the first out in the top of the sixth inning of Game 1 a split second before Marion’s Peyton Heidebrecht reaches base. Hillsboro won Game 1, 3-2 in extra innings. Marion won Game 2, 12-2 in five innings.
Hillsboro first baseman Jacob Funk secures the first out in the top of the sixth inning of Game 1 a split second before Marion’s Peyton Heidebrecht reaches base. Hillsboro won Game 1, 3-2 in extra innings. Marion won Game 2, 12-2 in five innings.
Hillsboro and Marion split a baseball doubleheader Friday in each teams’ only appearance last week.

Hillsboro won Game 1, 3-2, in a pitcher’s duel in eight innings.

Right-handed hurler Austin Cross threw a strong game for the Trojans to earn the win, scattering five hits and two unearned runs over eight innings of work. He walked three batters and struck out 15.

“Cross gave us a great effort, but he was tired; he threw 110 pitches in eight innings,” Hillsboro coach Doug Dick said. “He was done after that inning, so I was glad we finished it (in the bottom of the eighth).”

When the game went to extra innings tied at 2, Cross fittingly hit a leadoff single and came around to score the winning run in walkoff fashion, having stolen second base, advanced to third on a passed ball and scored on a Warrior error.

Marion ace Dylan Pippin absorbed the loss, giving up eight hits and three runs (two earned) in 71⁄3 innings of work. He walked one batter and struck out eight.

“Dylan threw well enough to win that game,” Marion coach Roger Schroeder said. “I thought he competed really well.

“We just couldn’t really get anything rolling. That’s baseball. We’re not a team that’s been good at making adjustments, and it showed.”

Hillsboro scored its first run of the game in the third inning. After Brooks Gardner hit a one-out single, Braden Vogt reached base on the fielder’s choice, then advanced to second, third and home by way of three passed balls.

Marion countered by using a hit and an error to score two runs in the top of the fifth. Mason Pedersen highlighted the frame with an RBI single.

The Trojans used two hits to tie the game in the bottom half of the inning, which was keyed by Vogt’s RBI double.

The game remained tied at 2 through seven innings. Hillsboro stranded the go-ahead run at third in the bottom of the sixth inning, while Marion left two on base in the seventh and stranded a runner at third in the top of the eighth. That set up the final half-inning.

“We had an incredible first game as far as pitching and defense,” Dick said. “We had only one error, but the only two runs that came in, came in that inning.”

Pedersen was 2-for-4 and had one RBI for Marion.

Cross helped his own cause by going 2-for-3 at-bat for Hillsboro.

Marion earned the split by winning Game 2, 12-2, in five innings.

The Warrior bats heated up quickly as Cole Srajer and Pedersen hit back-to-back singles to start the game. Peyton Heidebrecht highlighted the four-hit, three-run frame with a two-run double.

Marion added a pair of runs off a hit and an error in the second inning.

Hillsboro used two hits—singles by Tyson Reimer and Bryant Young—to score once in the frame, and added its second run in the bottom of the third when Gardner led off with a single, advanced to second on a passed ball and later scored on a balk.

With Marion leading 5-2 through three innings, the Warriors scored twice in the fourth, thanks in part to Srajer’s RBI double. Marion nailed down the run-rule win in the fifth inning, plating five runs off one hit—a leadoff single by Corbin Wheeler—and two errors. Marion benefitted from three walks in the frame.

Kaden Kleiner sustained the pitching loss. He gave up nine hits and 10 runs (three earned) in 4 innings of work. He walked three batters and struck out three.

Four Trojans recorded a hit: Young, Gardner, Reimer and Vogt.

“There were some things that put us in a difficult spot to start off, and we didn’t recover real well,” Dick said. “I think we hit the ball plenty, especially Game 2. We didn’t strike out much. We hit the ball really solid both games, but often right at somebody.”

Wheeler earned the pitching win for Marion, scattering four hits and two unearned runs over five innings of work. He walked one batter and struck out two.

Srajer was 2-for-3 and had two RBIs.

“Game 2 was just a much better job working to put the ball in play,” Schroeder said. “We were able to be more aggressive on the bases because we had a little momentum in our favor.”

Coming—Hillsboro is scheduled to play at Nickerson April 26, with a 2 p.m. start time for Game 1. The Trojans will host Haven on Friday, then Larned on Monday, May 2, which was postponed from April 19. The Haven and Larned doubleheaders are schedule for a 4 p.m. start.

Marion (5-1, 7-5) was scheduled to host Inman Tuesday and will welcome Canton-Galva to town Friday.

—Don Ratzlaff also contributed to this story.

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