Rempel blasting, Ours hurling equals Hillcrest winning in baseball postseason

RIVERSIDE — After waiting since Saturday afternoon to play its first round postseason baseball game, Hillcrest took care of business quickly Monday behind Jace Rempel batting performance and Eli Ours pitching prowess.

Hillcrest defeated English Valleys 10-0 in five innings and will play at Highland High School again Tuesday in a second round game against the winner of Highland and North Cedar.

Rempel supplied the power and the scoring with two doubles, a home run and batted in half of the runs while Ours kept the Bears off the bases for the most part and ended the game fanning six of the last seven batters.

Rempel’s first connection was on a 3-2 count in the first inning when he smacked a double deep in the alley. He cracked his home run in the third inning and finished his day with a double in the fourth inning. The Ravens didn’t get a bat in the fifth inning because of the 10-run rule.

“I think the count was 1-1 on the home run, but I was just ready to swing after the two-run double in my first at bat,” Rempel said. “When I was on deck, I was timing the guy up so I was ready to hit when I got there and I just connected. I hit it pretty hard so I knew it when I got a hold of it.”

It was the hardest ball he had hit all year in his estimation.

“It felt good,” Rempel said. “I was watching the left fielder and he kept going back so I wasn’t sure it was going to get out, but when I rounded first I saw the ball go over the fence.”

The postponement of Saturday’s game contributed to Rempel’s night at the plate Monday.

“We were supposed to play Saturday and I came early to get some extra swings and I think that paid off for me,” Rempel said. “Even though I didn’t get to play, I think it contributed to the hits.”

Of the 15 outs in the game, Ours struck out 10 Bears. He gave up four hits and one walk.

The first batter of the game tagged a pitch well, but Ours said that was because he left a curveball up in the zone. “He just did a good job getting his bat on it. After that I made sure I got ahead in the count because if I work ahead in the count then good things are going to happen.”

"My fastball was working really well because after the first inning I knew that ump was going to call strikes on the outside corner so I just stayed there the whole game,“ Ours said. ”I got a few strikeouts on the change up because coming off of the fastballs, it was effective for me.“

English Valleys didn’t seem to adjust or realize where the ump’s zone was because half of the strikeouts were set down looking. The final batter of the game just stood and watched the ump call strike three which meant game over.

“Our defense did a great job of not letting them score and our offense did a great job of being aggressive, hitting good pitches and being aggressive on the bases,” Hillcrest coach Danny Herschberger said. “There were some very timely hits. I am really proud of the guys.”

The Ravens and Huskies have played twice and Highland won both games.

“We will have to play our best ball if we play Highland,” Ours said. He likes the Ravens chances because it is “tough to beat a team three times.”

In the first game, the Ravens were ahead, but lost in the last inning. The second game was 11-6.