Indians outlast Washington in 10 innings

Outstanding defense and great pitching will win a lot of baseball games regardless of the offense.

The Washington High School Demons nearly proved that to be true Monday against the visiting Oskaloosa Indians.

The Demons surrendered just five hits over 10 innings of play and had a 2-1 lead after the fifth inning, but lost 3-2 in the nonconference battle.

'There are four outcomes in a baseball game,” Washington head coach Nathan Miller said. 'You can play really well and win, play really well and lose, play terrible and win, play terrible and lose. Those are basically the four scenarios that you can have. I thought we played really well the entire game except we did not have that clutch hit. We had runners in scoring position and we did not come through at the plate and that hurt us.”

Oskaloosa used five different pitchers to hold the Demons to a single hit, a single by Brant Stout in the fourth inning that helped the Demons score their first run of the game.

With one out in the Washington half of the fourth inning, Trevor Quigley was hit by a pitch, Stout singled. then two consecutive walks brought home a run before consecutive strikeouts ended the inning with the bases loaded.

'We did not put the ball in play,” Miller said. 'We left way too many runners on base.”

The Demons stranded 12 on the basepaths.

'We had lots of opportunities to score,” Miller said. 'We pitched really well. We played great defense. It just came down to not having a very good offense.”

Cade Hennigan created his own offense for the Demons second run.

Hennigan laid down a bunt along the third-base line and when the ball was overthrown at first, he kicked in the jets and made it to third base. He scored on a ground out by Luke Turner.

Kole Hinrichsen started for Washington and went three innings with six strikeouts, one walk and two hits. The first hit was the initial batter in the game and when he tried to steal second, Brady Knutson threw him out. The second hit was a home run in the second inning.

Next, Luke Turner went two innings and gave up one hit, one walk with two strikeouts.

Chase McDole started the sixth inning for the Demons. An error and a walk put runners at the corners, but an attempted double steal resulted in a rundown for an out at home. The runner on first ended up on third and scored on a wild pitch to tie the score at 2-2.

In the Indians eighth inning, a one-out single was followed by a ground out on a hit-and-run and the runner tried to take third base. Hinrichsen, at first base, fired to third where Brandon Dickel made the tag for an inning-ending double play.

McDole struck out the side in the ninth inning. An one-out walk in the 10th was erased with Knutson's gun catching the runner attempting to steal second base.

The batter then hit a 2-ball, 2-strike pitch over the fence for a 3-2 Indians lead.

The Demons had two on and two out in the ninth inning when Mitchell Dricsoll smacked a liner to centerfield that was caught.

'Mitchell had a great stinger there and if it had been an inch or two to one way or the other, it would've been a hit and the end of the game,” Miller said.

The fifth Indians pitcher of the game came in for the 10th inning and struck out the side to end the game.

'The bright side is great pitching and great defense will take this team a long ways because that is what will keep you in games,” Miller said. 'It is just a matter of finding that timely hit so that a team can put pressure on the other. That's how we find a way to win. We can't hang our heads because they have a good pitching staff and it was a great battle. I thought it was two teams going at each other that have had a lot of success this year. They are at the top of their conference. This is the type of game that we want for our guys at this juncture of the season.”

Oskaloosa is now 21-10.

The loss snapped a seven-game win streak for Washington (20-8). The Demons host Burlington (16-16) today. The postseason starts Friday with a home game against Mt. Vernon (18-14).