By RICH TORRES
FISHERS – The Westfield Shamrocks played the percentages, and Greyson Droste made them pay.
With one out and the bases loaded, Droste drilled a walk-off sacrifice fly to right field, securing a 3-2 win for Hamilton Southeastern at Ken Seitz Field on Saturday, while halting the Shamrocks attempt at a series sweep.
Westfield (5-3) won the first two games of the Hoosier Crossroads Conference three-game set, and as the game stood deadlocked 2-2 in the bottom of the seventh inning, the strategy game ensued.
HSE’s Jake Stout led off the Royals’ final at-bats with a double and moved to third base after a sacrifice bunt by Tyler Jahanshahi. Anthony Eggers worked Westfield’s Trey Anderson for a 3-0 count before being intentionally walked.
With the Royals’ second straight left-handed batter up, Westfield head coach Ryan Bunnell called for another intentional walk against Cole DeWael to setup a force out at any base.
“The biggest factor was we had two lefties and with Trey on the mound, we felt our best option was a righty-righty matchup,” Bunnell said. “We just felt that gave us our best swing-and-a-miss opportunity and a double-play candidate.”
Droste, who struck out three times during HSE’s 3-2 loss in Game 1 on Thursday, opened the series finale with an RBI single to give the Royals a 1-0 advantage in the bottom of the first.
In his next two at-bats, he struggled to make contact, striking out twice to increase his series total to six with another recorded during Game 2 as HSE lost 3-1.
“I struck out the three times the other day, so I really needed to get that in,” Droste said. “I couldn’t say it wasn’t affecting me because it was in my head, but that definitely helps.”
Up 2-1 in the count, Droste connected, scoring Stout for his 18th RBI on the season.
“I just really tried to put the ball into play because there was one out, and I really thought that was a sign of disrespect to me,” Droste said. “I really knew I had to get the job down with one out and put the ball in play in the air and score the run.”
The victory snapped the Royals’ two-game skid to improve their season record to 5-9 and pushed them to 2-7 in the HCC. Westfield dropped to 5-4 in the conference.
“You’re in gamble mode when you’re in that situation, so we felt our best chance was loading it up and get out of the inning that way,” Bunnell said. “It didn’t work.”
The Shamrocks rallied each time they were challenged, tying the game twice after trailing.
An RBI-double by Zach Collins in the top of the third knotted up the game 1-1 after Sam Eaton initiated the comeback with a two-out double.
Jacob Daftari put the Royals back in front 2-1 with a two-out RBI-double in the bottom of the third.
Back-to-back Westfield doubles by Logan McClurg and Matthew Meyer tied the game 2-2 in the top of the fifth, but HSE starter Rutger Poiry never lost control.
The right-hander went the distance for HSE, scattering five hits, walking two and striking out seven.
“Rut, he’s not a power pitcher, but what he shows is you don’t have to be a power pitcher to succeed,” HSE head coach Scott Henson said. “In this day and age, you always hear about how hard a guy throws, but what I’m always harping about is hitting spots, throwing strikes. As long as you do that, you’re going to put pressure on the guy at the plate to perform. That’s his game.”
The Shamrocks had four doubles, but they stranded four runners, including three in scoring position. A double play to get pinch-runner Brandon Yoder out at second base on a fly ball to center field in the fifth ended a potential threat.
Poiry induced an inning-ending groundout with runners on the corners in the top of the first and capped the third with a strikeout as Collins occupied second base.
The senior retired the final seven batters he faced to increase his season record to 3-1.
Westfield was riding a three-game winning streak entering the series finale after taking Game 3 of their league matchup against Noblesville last week 3-0. Meyer no-hit the Millers and went 6 innings versus the Royals on Saturday. The right-hander struck out five, walked one and surrendered five hits.
He sat down five straight Royals before being relieved by Anderson, who absorbed the loss.
“We did a lot of good things in this series. I know that a lot of attention was there at the end, but I thought we had a lot of good at-bats in this series, and we could have grinded out some better at-bats today,” Bunnell said. “But we’re in this together. I love this team and the direction we’re going. I still think there are good things ahead for us. We just have to grow in some areas and go through that.”
Westfield travels to Taylor University on Tuesday to face Fort Wayne Carroll at 6 p.m. before playing Brownsburg in a three-game HCC series, beginning at home on Thursday.
HSE hosts Mt. Vernon on Tuesday. On Thursday, the Royals open a three-game set on the road against HCC foe Zionsville. They play HCC rival Noblesville the first week of May.
“We needed to win this one because we’ve been losing a lot lately. This is really going to help get us back on track,” Droste said. “We have a lot of good players, and I think we’re going to have a really good season.”
Southeastern 3, Westfield 2
Southeastern AB R H RBI
Anthony Eggers 3 0 1 0
Cole DeWael 2 2 0 0
Greyson Droste 3 0 1 2
Jacob Daftari 3 0 1 1
Jack DeWolf 3 0 0 0
Jake Huston 2 0 0 0
Matt Buckingham 1 0 0 0
Brayton Harrison 3 0 1 0
Jake Stout 3 1 3 0
Tyler Jahanshahi 3 0 0 0
Totals 26 3 7 3
2B: Daftari, Stout. SB: DeWael 2.
Southeastern pitching IP R ER H
Poiry 7.0 2 2 5
Strikeouts: Poiry 7. Walks: Poiry 2.
Westfield AB R H RBI
Logan McClurg 2 1 1 0
Matt Meyer 3 0 1 1
Brandon Yoder 0 0 0 0
Sam Eaton 3 1 1 0
Zach Collins 2 0 1 1
Luke Hutson 3 0 0 0
Bryce Dorton 3 0 0 0
Kyle Pepiot 3 0 0 0
Trey Anderson 3 0 1 0
Eli Patchett 2 0 0 0
Austin Wessell 1 0 0 0
Payton Tamm 3 0 0 0
Totals 28 2 5 2
2B: McClurg, Meyer, Collins, Anderson. SB: McClurg 2.
Westfield pitching IP R ER H
Meyer 6.0 2 1 5
Anderson 0.2 1 1 1
Strikeouts: Meyer 5. Walks: Anderson 2, Meyer 1.
Score by innings
Westfield 001 010 0 – 2 5 1
Southeastern 101 000 1 – 3 7 1