OAKWOOD — With East Hall and West Hall averaging over 17 runs a game combined, Vikings coach Wesley Crow was not surprised at Tuesday’s 19-run outburst between the two teams at Spartans Field.
It was the outcome, a 12-7 West Hall victory in both teams’ Region 7-AAA openers, that had Crow shaking his head just a little.
“Our pitchers fell behind in the counts early and (West Hall) they were able to take advantage of that. But that was the kind of game I was expecting between two good hitting teams,” Crow said.
The Vikings (6-3, 0-1 Region 7-AAA) came into the first of three consecutive games against the Spartans riding a three-game win streak. West Hall (7-2, 1-0) was coming off its worst loss of the season, a 10-5 thumping from Lakeview Academy.
The two teams are scheduled to play a doubleheader on Friday at East Hall but may move the series up to Thursday based on Friday’s forecast of rain.
With Region 7-AAA expected to be much-improved from top to bottom and very balanced, Crow said the doubleheader against the Spartans is almost a must-win scenario already.
“You can’t get swept, certainly not in the opening series,” he said. “But this group doesn’t know how to quit. I expect them to be ready to try and get two wins.”
The game had three lead changes as the two offenses battered six pitchers for 24 hits and coaxed 10 walks, eight by West Hall hitters. The Spartans jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning but East Hall scratched back to take a 4-3 lead in the top of the fifth inning. However, a seven-run explosion in the bottom of the fifth by the Spartans was the deciding blow.
East Hall scored three times in the top of the seventh and was just one batter away from bringing the tying run to the plate before Trey Horton was able to get Mike Matuska to pop out to first to end the game.
“I was proud of how we battled back. We almost got the last guy up there,” Crow said.
West Hall coach Chad Sage said despite the offensive outburst, he felt the tone of the game was set by Spartans starter Kyle Reynolds, who went five innings yielding four runs on eight hits and just one walk while fanning six to get the win.
“I feel like our offense feeds off our starters,” Sage said. “Our pitchers have thrown pretty well and given the offense a lot of confidence to just go out and relax. Kyle did a good job of limiting them. I thought Charlie (Cochran) did a nice job in his one inning. We needed to get him some work.”
Cochran, who Sage said has been battling illness, got the Vikings quickly in order in the sixth after West Hall’s big inning.
“Getting that first (region) win is always big,” Sage said. “But I’m sure they’ll be ready for us (on Thursday or Friday). We’ll have to be ready to battle, that’s for sure.”
After Reynolds retired the Vikings in order to start the game, the Spartans wasted little time in jumping on East Hall starter Eli Stuart (4+I, 8H, 4BB, 1K, 7ER) in the bottom of the first. Zach Collins singled to lead off, moved to second on a four-pitch walk to Cole Wilson, and then scored on a RBI single from Brian Newman. Wilson then scored on a double play ground out by Josh Anderson for a 2-0 lead.
East Hall answered back in the top of the second cutting the lead to 2-1 on a RBI single from Trevor Rider, scoring Levi Crocker, who singled and stole second to start the inning. Rider, however, was gunned down trying to stretch it to a double and the Vikings could not keep the rally going.
West Hall came right back plating one run on a bases loaded passed ball in the bottom of the second. But they had a chance to blow it open loading the bases again with one out. Stuart got Wilson to ground into a third-to-home-to-first double play to end the inning.
The Vikings answered that in the third loading the bases with none out. Jonah Crocker then tied the game at 3 driving in Tripp Rider and Jesse Cooper, who both singled.
Both pitchers settled down until the fifth. Reynolds retired eight straight, including a pair of strikeouts. Stuart set down 6 of 8 batters.
The Vikings grabbed their first lead in the fifth plating a run on two hits, with Levi Crocker driving in Jonah Crocker with a RBI single to right for a 4-3 lead.
West Hall, however, came right back sending 11 men to the plate scoring seven times and knocking Stuart out of the game in the fifth with Cole Smith taking over. Collins, Wilson, and pinch-hitter Carter Lott all singled. Collins scored on a Josh Anderson walk, Trey Horton drove in Wilson with a single, and Lott scored on a wild pitch. Anderson scored on a sacrifice fly by Jeffrey Jenkins. Two more runs scored on errors and Collins knocked in a run to make it a 10-4 lead. The Spartans scored two in the bottom of the sixth on a fielder’s choice and a wild pitch.
Smith was tagged with the loss after giving up four runs, just two earned, on three hits and two walks in one-plus inning of work.
All but one West Hall starter got at least one hit and all but two Vikings starters got a hit. The top four Spartans batters -- Collins, Wilson/Lott, Newman, Anderson -- were a combined 7-for-12 with three RBI and scored seven runs. The top five East Hall batters -- Cooper, Stuart, both Crockers, Trevor Rider -- were 10-for-19 with seven RBI and five runs scored.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2016/3/375957/baseball-west-hall-defeats-east-hall