Hillcrest Academy ousts Regina Catholic to move one game from state

KALONA — One game.

That’s all Hillcrest Academy baseball needs to punch its ticket to this year’s state tournament after its 8-4 victory over Regina Catholic on Saturday night at home.

It was a test for the Southeast Iowa Super Conference North champions, but they got through with flying colors after rallying back from an early first inning deficit in the 1A District 5 title game.

The Ravens (21-4) will now get a rematch with No. 8 Burlington Notre Dame (25-6) at Community Field in Burlington on Tuesday, July 11.

Regina Catholic jumped on the Ravens early as the Regal’s Danny Gavin hit a two-run home run followed by a Colin Baker RBI single to give them a 3-0 advantage.

Hillcrest Academy responded in a big way.

A trio of errors committed by the Regals and eventual RBI’s from Josiah Beachy, Liam Schrock and Seth Ours put the Ravens on top 4-3.

It was a lead that they would not squander.

After a scoreless third, the Ravens added four more in fourth as Luke Schrock, Rowan Miller and Grant Bender all doubled, pushing the Ravens lead to 8-3.

Regina Catholic added one more to its total in the fifth frame, but that is all it could put together as the sixth and seventh were both scoreless.

On the hill, Luke Schrock surrendered four runs on six hits through the opening two innings, but the senior locked in allowing just two hits in his final four innings.

Schrock struck out seven on the night as the Ravens stranded 10 Regal runners through seven innings. That includes three times Regina left the bases loaded.

Jace Rempel closed the game out in the seventh.

Josiah Beachy went 2-for-3 in the game with one RBI.

Rowan Miller and Liam Schrock each had a hit and two RBIs.

Seth Ours, Luke Schrock and Grant Bender all had one hit with one RBI.