LONE TREE

A clash between cats and dogs took center stage at Lone Tree this past week when the Huskies paid a visit to the Lions’ baseball diamond for their yearly conference contest. 

Saving their best for last, Highland exploded with 18 runs combined in the last two innings to defeat Lone Tree, 20-8, on June 11. 

Highland’s (6-8) comeback makes it back-to-back wins, the second time they accomplished this feat this season. For Lone Tree (3-6) this loss marked the end of a two-game win streak. 

The Huskies scored once in the second before Lone Tree soaked thrice in the third to take their first lead of the game. As the game progressed the Lions added four more and the Huskies added one, leading to Highland facing a five-run deficit entering the sixth.

With two innings remaining the Huskies found their groove on offense, scoring seven in the sixth. The Lions scored a single run in the bottom of the inning to only be down one run, but Highland put up an astounding 11 runs in the seventh to cement their comeback victory on the road.  

Highland had nine hits as a team with junior Colten Sypherd leading the way with two and he also had three RBIs. Logan McFarland recorded one hit, but it was a triple. He also ended the game with a team leading four RBIs and scored two runs himself. 

Pitching duties for Highland was taken upon by McFarland and 8th grader Caleb Wheeler. McFarland, pitching in three innings, allowed four hits, and recorded one strikeout. Wheeler, pitching in four innings, struck out three batters and allowed four hits. 

It was a great day on offense for Lone Tree sophomore Emmett Burke. Burke went four for four while up to bat, with three of his hits being singles and one being a double. He also scored two runs. Finishing with two RBIs, the team lead, was Ethan Bockelman and Brock Nebergall.

Getting the most work on the mound for the Lions was junior Jack Patterson. Pitching in four innings, Patterson gave up one hit, one run, one walk, and tallied a team high four strikeouts. 

Burlington ND 17, Highland 5

  A mighty opponent awaited the Huskies, who went on the road to battle No. 1 in class 1A, the Burlington Notre Dame Nikes on June 12. 

The Nikes (16-1) got the win over the Huskies (6-9), by shutting out Highland for all but one inning and by scoring big in the fourth and fifth innings. 

Highland scored five runs in the bottom of the second to tie the game, but it ended up being their only runs of the night with the Nikes scoring five of their own in the fourth and then seven more in the fifth to put an official stamp on their victory. 

Connecting on a team high three hits on three attempts for the Huskies was junior William Dunbar. Ending with two hits and a team high two RBIs was fellow junior Logan McFarland.

The loss on the mound went to freshman Presten Smith, pitching in four innings, giving up 11 hits and allowing three walks. Dunbar pitched in one inning and accounted for the team’s lone strikeout of the game. 

Highland 3, Pekin 2

Bouncing back from a double-digit road loss, the Huskies went back home and collected another SEISC victory, narrowly defeating Pekin on June 13. 

With this win, Highland (7-9) improved its conference record to 5-2 and for the Panthers (5-6) their record in the conference drops to 4-3. 

Pekin scored one run in the first and the fourth to take a 2-0 lead, but Highland rallied, scoring three in the fifth to snatch a slim one run advantage and kept the Panthers from scoring in the final two innings to secure the victory. 

 It was Highland freshman Landon Roling who led the team in hits (2) with the team total being six. Getting one hit and a team high two RBIs was fellow freshman Garrett Beeson. 

Going the distance to get the win on the mound was junior Colten Sypherd. Sypherd has started the most games as pitcher for the Huskies this season and in this win, he put up seven strikeouts, gave up four hits, and allowed no walks. On the year, Sypherd is up to a total of 31 strikeouts in five games played. 

 West Burlington 8, Highland 7

Suffering a close loss on the road, the Huskies were defeated by the West Burlington Falcons on June 17.

This was a back-and-forth game with Highland breaking through in the sixth, scoring four runs to take a three-run lead. The Huskies scored once more in the top of the seventh to add to their lead, but the Falcons rallied, scoring an inning high five runs in the seventh to earn a walk-off victory, 

Highland was led by juniors Colten Sypherd and Ryker Miller who both had a team high two hits. Sypherd also led the team in RBIs with two. 

It was eighth grader Caleb Wheeler who saw the most playing time on the mound for Highland. He pitched in five innings, striking out two and allowing three hits.   

Up next for Highland (7-10) is a home game against the Wapello Indians (3-11) on June 20.