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Ravens rally back at Highland
Hillcrest Academy scraps out district semifinal win against North Division rivals
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
RIVERSIDE — The Hillcrest Academy baseball team had its back against the wall in a big way on Tuesday night, but the experienced Ravens picked themselves up and scored a thrilling district semifinal victory at rival Highland.
The Ravens came back from down 4-2 late in the game to pull out an 8-4 victory, moving Hillcrest Academy on to the Class 1A District 10 final.
The game was 2-2 after the first inning, but Highland starter Bryce Hazelett and Hillcrest Academy starter Phoenix Anderson settled in and no runs were scored in the following three innings.
Highland finally broke the tie in the bottom of the fifth, when Rkyer miller delivered a one out RBI single and Hunter Schiebel drew a bases-loaded walk to make it 4-2.
Highland not only led by two runs, but had the bases loaded with a threat to score more with only one out, but Anderson wiggled out of the jam to keep the Ravens in the game.
“He had some huge strikeouts there when they had some opportunities,” said Hillcrest Academy head coach Danny Hershberger. “He’s been that guy for his this year. He’s stepped up.”
Rowan Miller delivered a big hit in the top of the sixth, scoring one on an RBI double and putting runners on second and third in the process. Anderson scored on a wild pitch and it was all tied up again, at 4-4.
Miller then pitched a scoreless sixth inning in relief for Anderson, stranding two Huskies on the basepaths to keep things knotted up going into the final inning.
“We knew that our bats would come around and we would start finding gaps and putting it in play,” said Miller. “That made my job easy to just keep them where they were at.”
Hillcrest Academy broke through in the top of the seventh, batting around the order and scoring four runs. Lawson Schrock delivered an RBI single to put the Ravens up for good. Lincoln Miller brought one in with a single, and Rowan Miller delivered another dagger with a two-RBI double.
Highland got the lead off hitter on in the bottom of the seventh, but couldn’t get any runs across, and Hillcrest escaped with a four-run victory.
“I’m just really proud of them for sticking with it,” Hershberger said. “We didn’t play the cleanest game. We had a few uncharacteristic mistakes, but the guys stuck with it.”
Hillcrest Academy (15-7) will face top-seeded Sigourney (22-3) on Saturday at 5 p.m. That game will be in Sigourney, with the New London-Pekin game following.
