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Hillcrest Academy baseball rallies late, can’t finish in Substate final
BURLINGTON — It wasn’t the start the Hillcrest Academy baseball team wanted on Tuesday night during the Class 1A Substate 5 championship game, but the Ravens sure made it interesting late.
Hillcrest Academy staged a furious comeback against the eighth-ranked and top-seeded Nikes, but the rally fell just short, as Notre Dame punched its state ticket tournament with a 4-3 win.
“We didn't play defensively the way we wanted to and we kind of dug ourselves in a hole,” said Hillcrest Academy head coach Daniel Hershberger. “But I'm just extremely proud of the guys that we were able to fight back.”
Hillcrest Academy starter Seth Ours was forcing a lot of weak contact, but that didn’t stop Notre Dame from filling the bases early. The Nikes loaded the bases with nobody out in the first and second innings, but Ours allowed just three total runs over the two frames.
Notre Dame’s first bases-loaded situation came with nobody out in the first frame. A hit batter was followed by two defensive miscues, and the Nikes had the middle of their order set to do damage with nobody gone and the bases full.
Luke Schrock caught a line drive at short stop and turned it into a quick double play to get the first two outs of the inning. Then, catcher Liam Schrock threw out a would-be base stealer at second to end the inning with the game still tied 0-0.
In the second, the Nikes loaded them again with nobody out. Ours struck out the next batter, but Notre Dame scored one run on a squeeze play and another on a two-run throwing error.
Ours held Notre Dame at just a 3-0 advantage until the bottom of the fifth when the Nikes cashed in on a one out RBI single, but he would stay in the game and wouldn’t give another run up all night long.
“It was a fantastic job by Seth,” Hershberger said. “He was in some really tough situations early. He just kept getting after it over and over again, just coming up huge for us and getting us out of tough situations all night.”
The Ravens finally got things going in the sixth inning, when it was Hillcrest’s turn to fill the bases with nobody out. Jace Rempel, Rowan Miller and Grant Bender all reached on infield singles, and despite the next batter striking out, Hillcrest was able to start cutting into the lead.
Mason Bender brought the first runner home when he worked a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch. Then, with two outs, Liam Schrock hit a hard grounder off the first baseman to bring in two more runs.
“Once we got some guys on base, we got some more momentum on our side,” Hershberger said. “It was our second or third time up. I think we settled down a little bit.”
Notre Dame got out of the inning with the lead but the Nikes went scoreless in the sixth and Luke Schrock started the top of the seventh off with a single, but Notre Dame worked a double play ball around the horn on the very next batter, and Miller’s two-out line drive was caught by a leaping Nike infielder to end the game.
“They made some good plays defensively, so credit them,” Hershberger said. “It would have been nice to start the way we finished the game, but that's baseball sometimes.”
Ours, Luke Schrock, Rempel and Miller all finished the game with one hit. Mason Bender was the only Raven with an RBI, as Liam Schrock’s hard hit in the sixth was ruled a Notre Dame error.
Ours finished the game having thrown 83 pitches. He gave up four runs (one earned) on seven hits and three hit batters, while striking out three Nikes in a complete game effort.
Notre Dame (26-6) will get the No. 4 seed in the Class 1A state tournament, where they will take on fifth-seeded Lisbon at 1:30 p.m. on Monday. Hillcrest Academy ended the season at 21-5. Tuesday marked the final game for seniors Luke Schrock, Grant Bender, Rempel and Josiah Beachy.
“I'm really proud of our senior group,” said Hershberger. “They've been through a lot. They did a tremendous job of leading this group, not only with their play on the field, but also how they brought the young guys along, and brought the energy that we needed.”
The 2023 Ravens were the first Hillcrest Academy baseball team to win over 20 games since 2009.
