RIVERSIDE

 Conference rivals met once again on the baseball diamond, as the Huskies hosted the Lions for their second clash of the season.

Despite an attempt at a comeback in the later innings, Highland (11-13) stood firm at home to take the win, 7-5, and earned a season sweep over Lone Tree (5-13) on July 1. 

Highland used strong defense, spearheaded by starting pitcher Bryce Hazelett, to prevent Lone Tree from appearing on the scoreboard for the first three innings. In those three innings Hazelett struck out six batters on his way to finishing the game with a team high nine strikeouts. 

While the Huskies were playing lockdown defense, their offense also went to work. Scoring two runs in each of the first three innings, Highland went into the fourth with a 6-0 lead. 

Everything was rolling Highland’s way until the Lions decided enough was enough. In the top of the fourth, junior Brody Magruder connected on a great hit that sent the ball flying into the outfield. Not only did this hit allow Magruder to reach second, but it also scored two. 

After Highland went three up and three down on offense, the Lions scored the game’s next run in the fifth, batted in by Emmett Burke, to cut their deficit to three. 

Highland was able to score another run in the bottom of the fifth, but Lone Tree’s momentum on offense was not done just yet. Scoring for the third straight inning, the Lions put up two in the sixth to come within two of the Huskies. 

With one more chance in the seventh to complete a comeback, the Lions fell short as Highland was able to record the three outs they needed to end the game and earn the win. 

When it came to offense the Lions were led by Burke. The standout sophomore went three for four at bat, with two of his hits being singles and one being a double. 

Lone Tree’s starting pitcher was freshman Owen Eden. Eden pitched in five innings, striking out four and allowing six hits. 

Six different Huskies recorded at least one hit with Logan McFarland and Caleb Wheeler ending with a team leading two hits. William Dunbar and Hazelett both had two RBIs each to lead the team. 

Playoff preview

It will be another battle between cats and dogs as the Highland Huskies (10-13) and the Lone Tree Lions (5-12) will battle each other for the third time this year but this time their seasons are on the line.

Taking place in the district 12 bracket, Highland and Lone Tree will face off in a IHSAA 1A Substate 6 first round playoff showdown in Sigourney on July 6.

With both teams belonging to the same conference, the Huskies and Lions are very familiar with one another. Through 34 games against each other, Highland has 22 wins while Lone Tree has 12 wins. The last time Lone Tree bested Highland was in 2019.

This year Lone Tree has a 2-5 record at home and a 3-8 record on the road. They average 5.1 runs per game and give up 9.8 runs per game.

On offense they are led by sophomore Emmett Burke. Burke has a batting average of .500, has a team leading 25 hits, and 11 RBIs.

Starting the most games as pitcher for Lone Tree this season has been junior Jack Patterson. Patterson has a pitching record of 4-3 and has a team leading 44 strikeouts with an ERA of 3.23.

The Huskies have a 6-6 record at home and a 5-7 record on the road. They average 5.6 runs per game and give up 7.7 runs per game.

Highland has two reliable players spearheading their offense, the junior duo of William Dunbar and Logan McFarland.

Both Dunbar, who has a batting average of .380, and McFarland, who has a batting average of .338, lead Highland with 27 hits each. McFarland also has a team high 18 RBIs with Dunbar not too far behind with 17 RBIs.

Seeing the most time on the mound for Highland this season has been junior Colten Sypherd. With a pitching record of 3-3, Sypherd has amassed a team leading 43 strikeouts with an ERA of 1.94.

For Highland they will look for the difficult task of defeating the same opponent three times in a row and for Lone Tree they will attempt to flip the script in order to extend their season. The winner will advance to the second round where they will play against either Sigourney (17-2) or English Valleys (0-16) on July 9.