Highland’s Kort Sears delivers a pitch to River Valley in a Tuesday baseball game. The Scots pulled away late to win 7-2.
Rob Hamilton | Morrow County Sentinel
It wasn’t easy for Highland Tuesday at home against River Valley, but the Scots were able to pull away with a four-run sixth inning to top the Vikings 7-2 and improve to 6-2 in league play and 13-2 overall.
Thanks to some missed opportunities on Highland’s part, the Vikings were able to keep things close until that point. Highland loaded the bases with no one out in the first inning, but came away empty-handed to kick off a game that head coach Don Kline found frustrating at times.
“I told the boys the conversation was going to be the same whether we ended up losing the game or winning the game because we were disappointed with not being able to do the small things,” said the coach. “I told the guys that’s why you can’t take a night off. That’s a pretty solid team over there and if you don’t respect every play and play like it’s game seven of the World Series versus the Yankees, this is what happens. That game was very close, it was a nail-biter and didn’t need to be. Our guys have to play better baseball.”
Highland would break through in the second inning when Evan Johnson led off the inning with a single. With one out, a bunt by Rhett Russell led to a throwing error to put runners on second and third, setting up a two-run double by Jayden Collins to give Highland the lead.
The Vikings would battle back in the top of the third inning, taking advantage of some Scot miscues. Staring pitcher Kort Sears opened the inning by walking the first batter he faced, hitting the second and then giving up a single to load the bases. A fly ball would then be dropped to bring in a run before the Scot defense recovered to get an out at second base.
Sears would get out of the inning with no further damage done and his team would get that run back in the bottom of the inning. With one out, Jace Brooks doubled and a grounder by Gavin Wiggand was misplayed to put runners on the corners. After the Vikings got the second out of the inning, Hendrick Karya drove in a run with a single.
However, River Valley would respond again in the fourth, taking advantage of another Scot error and a walk to put two on with one out. They would then execute a double steal to cut the Highland advantage to 3-2.
“It wasn’t Kort’s best night,” said Kline. “He’s one of the better pitchers in the area — it just wasn’t his best night tonight and that happens. We did not help him with our gloves, but there were a couple plays late.”
One key defensive play happened in the fifth inning. After hitting two straight batters with one out, Sears was replaced on the mound by Brooks and moved to third base. The Vikings tried to steal third, but catcher Zach Church fired a bullet to Sears to record the second out and Brooks then induced a weak grounder to get out of the inning.
“Zach Church throwing the young man out at third base, that was a big one,” said Kline. “That was a huge point for us. They were getting some baserunners and trying to make some things happen. We flirted with fire tonight.”
The game would remain 3-2 until the bottom of the sixth inning. With a runner on second base and two outs, Collins legged out an infield single and Sears drew a walk to load the bases. Church then hit a fly ball that was misplayed by the Vikings to bring in all three runners. Hayden Kline then scored Church with a single to put the Scots up by five runs — a margin they would maintain.
With how tight the MOAC race is, as Highland, Clear Fork, Shelby and Galion all have two or fewer league losses, Kline looks at virtually every game as a must-win if his team is to claim a conference title.
“We’ve heard a lot from coaches around that the MOAC is pretty balanced this year and it is,” he said. “It’s a really good baseball league this year and one of the best in central Ohio for sure. Every night’s a dogfight and you cannot take a night off. I don’t think our boys took a night off. I think we respect River Valley, but we have to execute better. We’ve got to get bunts down, we have to be better on the bases, we have to make better decisions at the plate. We have to be tougher at the end of the day. We were not tough at certain times today.”
For the Scots, Collins had a double and single, while Brooks added a double and Sears and Kline both had two singles. Sears and Brooks combined to pitch a three-hitter, striking out five and walking five.
Rob Hamilton can be reached at 419-946-3010, ext. 1807. Connect with him on Twitter at @SportsMCS
