Highland baseball prepping for state run

?One down, three to go.?

That was the message the Highland baseball team kept saying to each other after some thrilling heroics continued the season on Tuesday night.

After a hard, emotional game against Iowa Mennonite, the Huskies find themselves three wins away from a potential state berth, and with a walk-off victory in the district quarterfinals, the Huskies believe they are primed for a state run.

?I think we are going to ride this momentum all the way to Des Moines,? Highland senior Ben Bean said after hitting the game-winning homerun on Tuedsay night.

After a hard-fought, 8-7 victory over a scrappy IMS team, Highland head coach Mike Mills thinks an emotional game like that is only going to help the team.

?More than anything, they realize that it?s not going to come easy every time out,? Mills said. ?We?ve had a couple of wins late in the season where things have come a little easier than maybe they should have. I knew IMS (was going to play us tough), and we had to work our tails off to keep advancing. That?s the best part of this win.?

While Highland eventually got the win, the Huskies made a couple of costly errors in the game that allowed three IMS runs to score, something they can?t have happen in the district semifinals against Lone Tree.

?We have to play better defense than we did tonight,? Mills said. ?When (Lone Tree) puts the ball on the ground, we have to make the routine plays. Not much will change. We have to take good at-bats, and our pitchers have to be on top of the count. It doesn?t matter much who we play.?

The Huskies know the Lions well, splitting the season series with them.

Lone Tree won the first game on June 2, as the Lions? Jake Viner tossed a three-hit shutout to propel them to a 1-0 victory.

In the second meeting between the pair on June 26, Highland returned the favor, as Chase Rath tossed seven innings of three-hit ball, earning the win, 6-1 over Lone Tree.

Bean and Jake Yeggy combined for five of the Huskies? six RBIs in the contest, and figure to be a key part of a potential victory on Thursday night.

The Huskies and Lions will begin their contest at 7 p.m. at Lone Tree.