RIVERSIDE

Familiar opponents met once again on the baseball diamond this past week when the Ravens went on the road to face off against the Huskies and through six innings it was anyone’s game. 

Holding onto a slim one run lead, the Ravens were first up to bat in the seventh. Delivering a mighty blow to any comeback hopes Highland had, Hillcrest’s opening salvo was a home run, hit with authority by a freshman, Lawson Schrock. 

Schrock’s home run fired up his teammates and they went on to score a total of seven runs in the seventh, leading to the Ravens defeating the Huskies, 9-3, last Friday. 

These two teams have been battling each other since 2009 and with this outcome, Highland and Hillcrest are now tied in their all-time series, 15-15. 

Hillcrest (6-1) improves its conference record to 5-1 while Highland (4-8) sees its conference record drop to 3-2. 

It was a pitcher’s duel throughout the first three innings with both teams not letting up a single run. Hillcrest’s Seth Ours and Highland’s Colten Sypherd, both junior pitchers who wear the number 8, were solid on the mound for their respective teams throughout the game.  

In the fourth inning Hillcrest broke through when Mason Helmuth hit an RBI single to bring in Ours for the first run of the game. Answering quickly, Highland scored a run in the bottom of the fourth when Caleb Wheeler, an 8th grader, hit his own RBI single to bring in Landon Roling. 

Hillcrest scored one more run in the sixth before the decisive inning where the Ravens blew the game open in their favor, scoring seven in the seventh that was kicked off by a Lawson Shrock home run, his first. 

When it came to batting Highland was led by Logan McFarland, who ended with a team high two hits. William Dunbar led the Huskies with two RBIs. 

Sypherd ended up pitching six and one third innings for Highland, giving up four hits and retiring eight batters. 

Ours got the win on the mound for Hillcrest, pitching in six innings and striking out 10 batters while giving up three hits.  

The Ravens had eight hits as a team with Rowan Miller, Mason Helmuth, and Lawson Schrock leading the way with a team high two hits. Miller also led in RBIs with three. 

Louisa-Muscatine 5, Hillcrest 4

Dropping their first game of the season, the Ravens were narrowly defeated in a conference matchup by the Louisa-Muscatine Falcons on June 4. 

This was the Falcons (2-5) first win over the Ravens (3-1) since 2021 with Hillcrest leading the all-time series at 14-13. 

A road game for the Ravens, they were up to bat first and scored a single run but the Falcons scored twice in the bottom of the first to take the lead.

The back-and-forth game continued as Hillcrest responded with two runs in the next inning before Louisa-Muscatine scored a single run in both the fourth and fifth inning to take back control of the game. 

Hillcrest managed to tie the game in the sixth but were unable to take the lead in the top of the seventh, leading to the Falcons securing one run in the bottom of the seventh for the walk off win. 

As a team Hillcrest recorded five hits with Rowan Miller leading the team with two and one RBI. Lincoln Miller and Mason Helmuth also recorded one RBI. 

Phoenix Anderson threw 102 pitches for Hillcrest in six innings, ending with four strikeouts and an ERA of 2.33. 

Hillcrest 10, West Burlington 0

Getting back on the winning track at home after their first hurdle of the season, Hillcrest (4-1) earned a shutout win over the West Burlington Falcons (1-7) on June 5.   

The Ravens scored three runs in the first, third, and fourth innings before scoring one more in the fifth to reach their final total of 10 to ice the game. 

This was the first time this season the Ravens managed to hold an opponent to zero runs scored. 

Pitching for the first time this season was junior Liam Schrock. Throwing 75 pitches in five innings, Schrock finished with three strikeouts and only gave up four hits.  

When up the bat Hillcrest had seven different players record at least one hit with junior Seth Ours leading the team with two. 

 Hillcrest 14, Wapello 3

Continuing to stay undefeated at home, the Ravens (5-1) cruised to a win over conference rival Wapello (2-6) on June 6. 

This game lasted five innings with the mercy rule ending the contest early. 

Contributing to the game’s early end was Hillcrest scoring four runs in the first, four more runs in the third, and then five runs in the fourth. 

Liam Schrock, Lincoln Miller, Seth Ours and Phoenix Anderson all recorded more than one hit in the win with Schrock leading the team with three. Leading the team in RBIs with four was Ours. 

Getting the win in his season debut on the mound was sophomore Rowan Miller. It was a solid day for Miller, throwing 76 pitches in five innings, retiring eight batters while giving up only four hits and two walks. 

 Mediapolis 4, Hillcrest 1

In their second straight road game, the Ravens were defeated by the Mediapolis Bulldogs on June 10.  

The Bulldogs scored their first run in the second before scoring three more in the third to arrive at what ended up being their final score of four. The Ravens scored their first and only run in the top of the fourth with the rest of the game going scoreless. 

Getting the starting nod at pitcher for Hillcrest was Phoenix Anderson. The junior gave up eight hits, allowed two walks, and recorded two strikeouts.  

When up to bat the Ravens ended the game with three hits total with those hits coming from the junior trio of Liam Schrock, Seth Ours. and Mason Helmuth. Helmuth also registered one RBI with Ours being the one to score the Raven’s lone run. 

Up next for Hillcrest (6-2) is a home conference game against the Winfield-Mt Union Wolves (3-4) on June 13.