After falling behind by seven runs early in Monday’s game at Lone Tree, Hillcrest continued to compete.

The Ravens trailed 9-3 entering the fifth inning, but took a two-run lead on Luke Schrock’s grand slam in the sixth. 

With the bases loaded and no outs, Schrock said that he was looking for a fastball. 

“It was first pitch, right there, the perfect speed and I just put a barrel on it,” he said. “It was by far the best-hit ball I’ve ever had.”

Schrock was met at home plate for a celebration with Noah Miller, Eli Ours and London Schrock, who scored on the go-ahead home run. 

It was the eighth straight run for Hillcrest, who trailed 9-2 after the Lions (8-14) scored seven in the second inning.

“It was pretty crazy,” Schrock said about putting his team ahead. “I was really excited.”

By the time the game went to the bottom of the seventh inning, the Ravens had scored 14 unanswered. 

“I think the biggest thing is the guys just stayed with it and they didn’t give up,” Hillcrest coach Danny Hershberger said. 

“When you have that kind of start, which we obviously didn’t want, it’s easy to get down on yourself a little bit but I’m just really happy with the way the guys stuck it out and continued to fight.”

London Schrock drove in a run with a double in the fifth inning as the Ravens cut the lead to two and added a pair of insurance runs in the seventh with another double. Jace Rempel also had a 2-RBI double in the final inning. 

Tyler Bell doubled and singled in his first two at bats, driving in three runs for Lone Tree during the first two innings. Adam Knock scored the game’s first run and also delivered a two-run single during the Lions’ seven-run second inning. 

After the Lions scored nine runs on four hits and two walks during the first two innings, Ours retired the next six.

“We had a lot of plays that we’d like to have back but then we were able to settle ourselves down,” Hershberger said. 

“Eli made some pitches to get us out of that inning where they were scoring a lot. 

“Everybody contributed tonight, everybody did something to help us come back and get the win tonight.”

Lone Tree loaded the bases in the sixth inning with a walk and two hit batters, but Luke Schock struck out the next three to protect the 11-9 lead. 

“He’s become that guy that we can trust on the mound to come in and shut the other team down a little bit and he did that again tonight and that was huge for us,” Hershberger.

“Also he’s stepped into that cleanup role and and you know put a good swing on a pitch tonight and did a great job of getting us the lead back.” 

Hillcrest (10-8) opens the postseason against English Valleys (6-14) on Saturday, July 10 in a district quarterfinal at Highland. 

The Ravens topped English Valleys 8-3 in the first game of the Hillcrest Class on June 19, but Hershberger is expecting a more competitive game from the Bears on Saturday. 

“They’re going to be a tough opponent, they’ve had some injuries,” he said. 

“They’re getting some of their top players back and they’re ready to go, so it’s going to be a different team than we saw at our Classic and we’re going to have to be ready. They can hit the ball well, they like to run the bases aggressively, so we’ve got to be ready to play some sound defense.”

Highland 11, Hillcrest 5

The Ravens were unable to come back from an early 6-1 deficit against Highland (14-7) on Friday. 

London Schrock was 2 for 4 with a double and two RBIs in the loss. 

The Ravens made six errors and allowed six unearned runs. Luke Schrock pitched 3 and 1-3 innings of relief and allowed just one run on two hits, striking out four. 

Jace Rempel had a hit and an RBI for the Ravens. Noah Miller had a hit and scored a run and Seth Ours was 1 for 2 with a walk. 

Hillcrest 17, Columbus 1

The Ravens scored 12 runs in the first inning of a 17-1 senior night victory over Columbus (0-17) on Thursday. 

London Schrock doubled, tripled and walked twice. He had five RBIs on the night. His fellow senior Eli Ours had a hit, walked twice, drove in two runs and scored four times in the blowout. Seniors John Hughes and Aidan Yoder each drew a walk and scored a run. Hughes also was hit by a pitch, had a hit and drove in a run. 

The Ravens took advantage of 11 walks and scored the 17 runs with just six hits. Sophomore Jace Rempel drew two walks and had a hit, driving in three runs. 

Mediapolis 6, Hillcrest 1

The Ravens struck first in Wednesday’s game, but couldn’t keep up with the conference champion Bulldogs(15-8) in a 6-1 loss. 

London Schrock hit a 2-out triple and scored on Luke Schrock’s single in the first inning, but that would be the last run for Hillcrest. The Ravens had just one fewer baserunner than Mepo, but couldn’t get a key hit with runners on base. 

Noah Miller reached base on error in the first inning but was thrown out stealing. He had singles in each of his next two at bats to finish 2 for 4. Jace Rempel and Josiah Beachy each had a hit in the loss. 

Jaxon Brooks had a double, a triple and two RBIs to lead the Bulldogs.