Ravens win home tournament

By Jeff Yoder
Posted 6/22/21

The Ravens came out swinging in both games of the Hillcrest baseball triangular on Saturday. Hillcrest scored three runs in the first inning of game one, and sent 13 batters to the plate in the first …

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Ravens win home tournament

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The Ravens came out swinging in both games of the Hillcrest baseball triangular on Saturday. Hillcrest scored three runs in the first inning of game one, and sent 13 batters to the plate in the first inning of game two. 

The early leads held up as Hillcrest (7-5) downed English Valleys 8-3 in the opener and defeated Keokuk 11-1 to finish first in the round-robin tournament. 

“I thought the guys did a good job of being aggressive early,” Hillcrest coach Danny Hershberger said. “Getting an early lead is something we like to do. We had two triples in the first inning, guys were able to jump on their pitcher early and get some good hits and get the momentum on our side.”

Eli Ours tripled and scored the first run of the day. Luke Schrock drove in two runs with his triple and finished 4 for 4 in game one. 

Keokuk struck first in game two and the Ravens trailed 1-0 when Schrock stepped to the plate with two on base. 

Schrock was looking for “a fastball, that I could drive somewhere,” he said. “I got it after a few pitches and drove it straight to left field.”

Both runners scored on the single and Hillcrest led for the rest of the day. 

Nine straight batters reached base with one out in the inning. The Ravens had four hits, four walks and one reached on error. 

Schrock said the big first inning was the result of “having good at bats and not helping the pitcher by swinging at balls, but also being aggressive with the strikes.”

Schrock finished 6-7 at the plate with five RBIs. Jace Rempel also had a pair of multi-hit games. He went 4-6 on the day with a double, an RBI and three runs scored. 

Aiden Krabill made the first start of the day against English Valleys (3-9) and threw four innings without allowing a hit or a run. He walked five and struck out eight. 

“(Krabill) did a great job of of pitching there,” Hershberger said. “He got in a little bit of trouble early and then once he was able to find the strike zone, he really settled in nicely and did a great job of keeping them off balance and letting the defense work.”

Krabill was hit by pitch with the bases loaded in the third inning. He also drew a bases-loaded walk to put Hillcrest ahead 8-0 in the fourth. 

The Raven bullpen gave up three runs in the fifth, but London Schrock pitched around two hits in the seventh to close the game. 

Eighth-grader Seth Ours made his second start of the season against Keokuk (1-15). Ours allowed a run on a walk and two hits in the first inning, but got a groundout to strand runners at second and third. He pitched all five innings and gave up one run on three hits and three walks. He went 2 for 3 with an RBI at the plate. 

Shortstop Eli Ours and second baseman Luke Schrock turned a double play in the third inning and again in the fifth. 

“I thought those double play balls were as pretty as it can look on defense,” Hershberger said. “Great turns there up the middle. Those are big plays to get you two outs and get out of some tight spots there. Anytime you can have that type of defense behind the guy throwing strikes, it makes it really tough to score runs on us”

Grant Bender had a hit and two RBI in the win over the Chiefs. 

The Ravens hosted Central Lee on Friday, but play was suspended for lightning with Hillcrest trailing 11-5 in the fourth inning. The Ravens trailed 10-1 before scoring four times in the bottom of the third. Eli Ours had two hits and scored a run. Luke and London Schrock each had a hit and an RBI. A makeup date for the final innings has not been announced. 

 

Louisa-Muscatine 7, Hillcrest 3

After trailing 3-0 in the fourth, Louisa-Muscatine (7-8) scored seven unanswered runs to down Hillcrest 7-3 on Monday. 

Jace Rempel was 2 for 4 with an RBI and Josiah Beachy was 1 for 4 wtih two RBIs. Eli Ours drew two walks and scored a run. Luke Schrock doubled and scored a run. The Ravens made seven errors in the field and all seven runs were unearned. 

London Schrock took the hard-luck loss. He allowed no earned runs on seven hits and two walks over 6 and 2-3 innings. He struck out five. 

 

Hillcrest 12, Lone Tree 5

The Ravens scored eight runs in the third inning of a 12-5 win over Lone Tree (7-8) on Thursday. 

Josiah Beachy went 4 for 5 at the plate and drove in three runs. Noah Miller, Eli Ours and Luke Schrock each had three hits for Hillcrest in the victory. Jace Rempel was 2 for 4 with a double and two RBIs. Rempel was also hit by a pitch and reached on error twice. Liam Schrock also had two hits, including a double, and had one RBI. 

Ours was the winning pitcher. He allowed two earned runs on five hits and one walk, he struck out 11.