Huskies split season-opening home doubleheader with 4A Fort Wayne Northrop

By CRAIG ADKINS

For The Reporter

The Hamilton Heights baseball team started the second week of its spring break by hosting Class 4A Fort Wayne Northrop for a Monday doubleheader to open its season.

Game 1: Northrop 5, Hamilton Heights 3

The Bruins scored first on an error for the early 1-0 lead. Heights answered in the bottom of the first. With the bases loaded, Cy Mason lined a base hit to left, scoring Owen Hughes to tie it 1-1.

Northrop scored two more on consecutive hits to make it 3-1 in the fourth. The visitors scored again for 4-1 on a passed ball in the fifth.

The Huskies cut into the Bruin lead in the home half of the fifth. PJ Wright and Dillon Pitts both walked. Wright scored on a double steal with pinch runner AJ Flanagan. An RBI single to left from Josh Newton plated Flanagan to narrow the deficit to 4-3.

Kaden Lawson hit a Northrop hitter with bases loaded to send home the final run of the game.

Heights had six hits to Northrop’s three, but three Huskies errors helped the Bruins.

Game 2: Hamilton Heights 4, Fort Wayne Northrop 2

The Huskies flipped the script to split the twinbill with the Bruins, taking the second game, 4-2.

Northrop once again struck first. Drawing a walk with the bases loaded, they took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third.

Kaden Lawson singled to center, scoring Jackson Mikesell to tie it 1-1.

The Bruins took a 2-1 lead with two aboard, reaching on an error.

Dillon Pitts led off with a grounder up the middle. Two walks in a row by Austin Kappes and Owen Hughes loaded the bags with no outs. Josh Newton knotted the game 2-2 on a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Pitts.

All it took was another pair of runs and that’s exactly what Hamilton Heights did in the home half of the fifth.

Landon Hickman led off with a line drive to left. Two hitters later, PJ Wright reached on an infield single and advanced to second on an error, moving courtesy runner Colt Johnson to third.

Pitts doubled to center, scoring both Johnson and Wright for the game-winning two-run, extra-base hit to secure the win by two.

Cy Mason started the game on the mound, throwing three innings and struck out four. Owen Hughes threw the final four, shutting down the Bruins, fanning four in the final two innings.

Hughes earned the win and struck out eight. Pitts went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a run scored. Hickman, Lawson and Kappes collected the other three hits.

Hamilton Heights (1-1) hits the road to Portland to face the Jay County Patriots (0-1) on Thursday at 6 p.m.