By Staff
HILLSBORO – You would never know they struggled at the start of the season as the Smoky Valley baseball team rolled into Hillsboro on Thursday and hammered the Trojans for 32 runs on 35 hits in scoring a two game sweep with wins of 14-2 and 18-3.
With the wins the Vikings have overcome a season opening five-game losing streak to win three in a row and now sport a 3-5 season record as they prep to host Lyons on Tuesday, April 11.
In the first game at Hillsboro, Smoky Valley opened up by taking a 6-0 lead into the bottom of the third when Hillsboro pushed across a pair of runs to pull within four. In the top of the fourth, the Vikings poured across eight runs to gain the final 12-run, 14-2 victory.
Trevor Jones had a monster game for Smoky Valley as he recorded four runs batted in on three hits of which two were doubles in the first and fourth innings. Jones also scored twice and stole a pair of bases.
Both Nolan Dauer and Toren Miller also had three hits in the game while Braxton House and Nolan Moore each had a pair of hits as the Vikings pounded out 16 hits in the game.
Smoky Valley was also nearly unstoppable on the base paths as they recorded a whopping 12 stolen bases in the game with Nolan Dauer swiping three and Ethan Able, Braxton House also stealing a pair each.
Kade Blanchat threw a complete game for Smoky Valley, using 74 pitches to limit the Trojans to just five hits and one earned run while not recording any walks and striking out 10.
It was much the same in the nightcap as Smoky Valley pounded out another 18 hits and scored 18 times while limiting the Trojans to just three runs on seven hits.
Both Ty Heitschmidt and Trevor Jones smashed out four hits in the game with Heitschmidt hammering out a pair of doubles and recording four runs batted in while scoring twice. With Jones getting another pair of runs scored and runs batted in plus another double, his work for the two games totaled out seven hits with three doubles, four runs scored, and six runs batted in.
Kade Blanchat had three hits including a triple in the nightcap while he and Toren Miller each scored three times.
Ethan Able was the winner on the mound, throwing 63 pitches in four innings while giving up seven hits, one earned run and striking out six.
The numbers for the two games were impressive as the Viking pitchers threw just nine innings and 137 pitches while giving up just 12 hits and a pair of earned runs, walking zero batters in two games and striking out 16.
As for the bats, Smoky Valley totaled 32 runs on 35 hits with five doubles, one triple and 15 stolen bases while committing just one error in the field.
SMOKY VALLEY VIKING BASEBALL at Hillsboro
GAME 1:
Scoring: VIKINGS > 2-1-3-8-0-0-x = 14-16-1; Hillsboro > 0-0-2-0-0-x-x = 2-5-0.
VIKINGS HITTING (ab-r-h-rbi-bb): Nolan Dauer > 4-2-3-1-0; Trevor Jones > 4-2-3-4-0; Ty Heitschmidt > 3-0-1-1-0; Kade Blanchat > 2-1-0-2-2; Ethan Able > 3-1-1-1-1; Nolan Moore > 2-2-2-0-2; Alden Hill > 4-1-1-0-0; Braxton House > 3-3-2-2-1. Team Totals > 29-14-16-13-6. 2B (2) > T. Jones – 2. SB (12) > N. Dauer – 3; T. Jones, E. Able, B. House – 2; T. Heitschmidt, K. Blanchat, T. Miller – 1.
VIKINGS PITCHING (ip-p-h-r-er-bb-so): Kade Blanchat (W) > 5.0-74-5-2-1-0-10.
GAME 2:
Scoring: VIKINGS > 6-3-0-9-0-x-x = 18-19-0; Hillsboro > 0-1-2-0-x-x-x = 3-7-0.
VIKINGS HITTING (ab-r-h-rbi-bb): Nolan Dauer > 2-2-1-2-2; Trevor Jones > 4-2-4-2-0; Ty Heitschmidt > 4-3-4-4-0; Kade Blanchat > 4-3-3-2-0; Ethan Able > 1-1-0-0-3; Toren Miller > 2-3-1-1-2; Nolan Moore > 4-0-2-3-0; Lucas Perez > 0-1-0-0-0; Braxton House > 3-1-2-0-0. Team Totals > 28-18-19-18-8. 2B (3) > T. Heitschmidt – 2, T. Jones – 1. 3B (1) > K. Blanchat – 1. SB (3) > K. Blanchat – 2; N. Dauer – 1.
VIKINGS PITCHING (ip-p-h-r-er-bb-so): Ethan Able (W) > 4.0-63-7-3-1-0-6.
(The Staff covering events for the MAC AREA SPORTS NEW can be reached by email at crossdovewriter@gmail.com)