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Austin Kruckenberg dives safely back to third base against Andover Central April 14.

Late run gives Hornets league split with Andover Central
By Randy Fisher
Last Updated: April 16, 2015

A seventh-inning single by Zach Williams chased home Ryan Garcia with the winning run as Valley Center edged Andover Central 2-1. That gave the Hornets a split of their April 14 league doubleheader at Stevens Field after the Jaguars won the first game 6-1. Valley is now 4-2 overall and 1-1 in league play.

"The kids did a good job," Valley coach Nick Barnes said. "We talked about having some strong focus late in the game, and that was going to win us the game if they had that focus. Sure enough, it came through and we did pull off that win."

The Hornets had taken a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the sixth when Andrew Skaff scored from third on a pitch up in the zone that Central's catcher couldn't hang on to. The Jaguars tied it in the seventh on an RBI single by Brock Schaffer.

The bottom of the seventh inning opened for Valley like the previous six had — with an out. Then Blake Crager drew a base on balls. Barnes sent Garcia in as a pinch runner. That caught Garcia by surprise, as he usually is a courtesy runner when Nate Postlethwait pitches.

"He (Barnes) told me, ‘Are you ready to score the winning run?' I was like, ‘yeah,' and he was like, ‘I need your focus,' and I was like ‘Alright, I'll get it,' " Garcia said.

With Postlethwait at bat, Garcia scampered to second on a wild pitch. Central then intentionally walked Postlethwait to set up a possible double play.

A wrist injury to first baseman Tanner Padgett gave Williams the chance for his first-ever varsity competition. After DHing in the first game, Williams played first in the nightcap. He was 0 for 3, including two strikeouts, when he came up in the seventh.

Swinging late and fouling off pitches, Williams quickly fell behind in the count 0 and 2. He then lined a ground ball in the hole between first and second for the walk-off RBI single.

"I was just trying to battle off and fight for another pitch at that point," Williams said. "It felt great, honestly. I was just super excited I could put the ball to the opposite field and help my team score."

With Barnes waving the fleet-footed Garcia around third, Schaffer scooped up the ball in right and fired home. His throw was just a bit late, as Garcia slide in safely.

Barnes had confidence in Williams during that last at-bat, telling him to do everything he is capable of doing and good things would happen.

"I thought he had a pretty good approach at the plate all day long," Barnes said. "I had a good feeling he was going to come through with the clutch hit and put us in position to be successful."

That made Postlethwait a winner for the third time this season. It was his second straight complete game as he set down the first 10 Jaguars. The sophomore hurler allowed just one run and four hits. He walked no one and struck out five.

"Nathan gave us everything he's got," Barnes said. "If he's not the best pitcher in the conference, he's right up there with them because he does a good job of controlling the game."

Prior to the second-game heroics, Game 1 saw Stanton Schnittker blank Andover Central on three hits, as the game was scoreless through four. The Jaguars pushed across a pair of runs in the top of the fifth. They iced the win with two more in the sixth and one in the seventh.

Valley's lone run came in the seventh when Chris Bluml doubled to score Skaff. The Hornets were outhit 10-3 in the game.

"If we had some offense, it would have been a little bit tighter game," Barnes said. "I thought we played pretty good defense, and Stanton gave us a pretty good outing on the mound."

Schnittker (0-1) scattered eight hits and struck out as many.

JV also splits — With the split, the Hornets are 4-2 on the season.

Valley's Joe Townsend threw well for 5 2/3 innings in an 8-3 losing effort.

"We had two innings where our mental mistakes took us out of the game," said coach Jordan Foland. "Also, our approaches at the plate were horrible. Too many fly balls with runners in scoring position."

The Hornets played much better defensively in the second game, although a mental error gave the Jags a two-run lead. Trailing 4-3 in the bottom of the seventh, pinch hitter Wes Hager blooped one to right center that tied the game and put runners on the corners with one out. Colton Richardson laid down a bunt to score the winning run in a 5-4 victory.

Andover Central 6,

Valley Center 1

A. Central 000 023 1 — 6 10 0

Valley Center 000 000 1 — 1 3 0

Ray, Rodd (6), Gorges (7) and Schoonover; Schnittker, Shockley (6) and Bluml. W — Ray. L — Schnittker (0-1). 2B — AC: Olney; VC: Bluml.

Valley Center 2,

Andover Central 1

A. Central 000 000 1 — 1 4 2

Valley Center 000 001 1 — 2 5 0

Johnston, Rodd (6), Harris (7) and Graham; Postlethwait and Bluml. W — Postlethwait (3-0). L — Harris.






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