Hamilton Heights baseball coach Ryan VanOeveren has a simple goal for his team.
“Every day that we show up here, our goal is to be better than we were the day before,” said VanOeveren.
The Huskies have been achieving that goal throughout the season. After an 0-6 start to their campaign, Heights has not lost a game. The Huskies have won 11 in a row, including a 16-0, five-inning victory Thursday over Northwestern in a rainy home game.
“I’m proud of the way they played the entire season, even when we started slow,” said VanOeveren.
Heights’ win over the Tigers is significant because with the victory, the Huskies won the Hoosier Conference East Division championship. Heights finished division play with a 7-1 record, the same as Western, but the Huskies get first place on the tiebreaker. They will play at the West Division champion next Friday (May 14) for the conference championship.
“Even in the off-season, they had a great attitude, good work ethic,” said VanOeveren. “It’s starting to kind of come together right now. Even when we were getting spanked early in the season, they had a great attitude. I knew we still had a chance. I didn’t know if we would get here, but we’re here now and we’re excited.”
Heights lost its first conference game of the season to Western 11-10, and that was the game that dropped it to 0-6. But the Huskies rebounded in their next game, turning the tables on the Panthers to win 1-0. They haven’t lost since.
“I think we hit a rhythm in Game 2 of the conference when we won our first conference game here at home,” said VanOeveren. “We hit a confidence in each other at that moment and we haven’t looked back.”
Against Northwestern, Heights got off to a 3-0 lead in the first inning. Sam Allen scored the first run on a wild pitch, then the Huskies hit back-to-back sacrifice flies for the next two runs. Nate Hulen sent Jared Michael home, then Drew VanOeveren scored Erik Malott.
Isaac Tuma scored in the third inning on Dean Mason’s RBI groundout, giving Heights a 4-0 lead. The Huskies then added 12 runs in the fourth inning. Brayden Elkin got on base with a double, then was sent home on Harrison Hochstedler’s RBI groundout.
Erik Malott cracked a two-RBI double, then Drew VanOeveren smacked a triple to add two runs. VanOeveren later scored on a wild pitch. Hochstedler batted in two more runs on a center field single, Elkin scored on Allen’s sacrifice fly, Malott batted in one more run and Hulen singled home two runs.
Tuma came in as a courtesy runner three times during the fourth inning, and scored all three times, giving him four runs for the game. Malott, Hulen, VanOeveren and Hochstedler all drove in three runs, while Michael scored three times.
Lucas Letsinger pitched all five innings, striking out 10 against one hit and two walks.
Heights is 11-6 overall and plays at Western Boone this afternoon.
HAMILTON HEIGHTS 16, NORTHWESTERN 0
(5 innings)
Heights AB R H RBI
Sam Allen 1 2 1 1
Jared Michael 4 3 2 0
Erik Malott 3 1 2 3
Nate Hulen 1 1 1 3
Drew VanOeveren 2 1 1 3
Joe Mayo 1 0 0 0
Dean Mason 2 1 0 1
Lucas Letsinger 2 0 0 0
Brayden Elkin 2 2 2 0
Harrison Hochstedler 3 1 1 3
Isaac Tuma 0 4 0 0
Totals 21 16 10 14
Score by Innings
Northwestern 000 00 – 0 1 2
Heights 301 (12)x – 16 10 3
3B: VanOeveren. 2B: Elkin, Malott. SAC: Allen, Hulen, VanOeveren. HBP: Malott.
Heights pitching IP R ER H
Letsinger 5 0 0 1
Strikeouts: Letsinger 10. Walks: Letsinger 2.
University continued its tough stretch of games by taking on Cathedral Thursday.
The Class 2A No. 6 Trailblazers fell to the Irish 6-4 in a game that was called after six innings. The Irish scored a run in the bottom of the second inning, but University got it back in the top of the third: Grady Hay hit a triple, then scored on a pitcher’s balk.
The ‘Blazers then took a 3-1 lead in the top of the fourth. Jake Hooker hit a sacrifice fly to send Adam Oxley home, then Thomas Price scored on Seth Hogg’s RBI groundout.
Cathedral tied the game with two runs in the bottom of the fourth, then moved ahead 4-3 with an RBI single in the fifth inning. University tied the game again in the top of the sixth when Price scored on a pitcher’s balk, but the Irish took the lead for good with a two-RBI double in the bottom of the sixth.
Oxley hit a double, one of four Trailblazers hits. University also held Cathedral to four hits. Starting pitcher Matt Moore went four innings, striking out seven.
The ‘Blazers are 13-6 and play a doubleheader Saturday at Bedford North Lawrence.
CATHEDRAL 6, UNIVERSITY 4
(6 innings)
University AB R H RBI
Tyler Galyean 3 0 1 0
Luke Hellman 3 0 0 0
Adam Oxley 3 1 1 0
Thomas Price 2 2 0 0
Matt Moore 2 0 0 0
Jake Hooker 2 0 1 1
Seth Hogg 3 0 0 1
Grayson Knight 1 0 0 0
Weber Morse 1 0 0 0
Grady Hay 2 1 1 0
Quincy Harper 0 0 0 0
Totals 22 4 4 2
Score by Innings
University 001 201 – 4 4 1
Cathedral 010 212 – 6 4 1
3B: Hay. 2B: Oxley. SAC: Hooker.
University pitching IP R ER H
Moore 4.0 4 3 1
Knight 0.1 0 0 1
Oxley 1.2 2 2 2
Strikeouts: Moore 7, Oxley 2. Walks: Moore 5, Oxley 2.