Ark Valley News - Hornet baseball team drops four straight

A Maize South base runner slides safely into second as Valley Center's Bailey Burns catches a throw April 5.

Hornet baseball team drops four straight
By Randy Fisher
Last Updated: April 12, 2018

After outhitting Newton in both games of a doubleheader split to start the season, the Valley Center High School baseball team's offense has gone south in the four games since.

The Hornets have scored six runs in losing both doubleheaders. They were pounded 16-1 and 6-2 by Maize South at home April 5 and lost 2-0 and 2-1 at Ark City April 10.

Valley Center is now 1-5 overall and 0-4 in Ark Valley Chisholm Trail League II action.

"We're a better offensive team than what we've showed the last couple days," coach Nick Barnes said.

Maize South took both games of Valley Center's home opener April 5, winning 16-1 and 6-2.

The Mavericks looked every bit the defending Class 4A-I state champions in the five-inning first game. They scored in each inning, leading 5-0 before Valley even got to bat.

The Hornets had a chance to stay in the game in the first. With two outs, Kadin Pearson singled. Chandler Henkelman hit a routine grounder that shortstop Braydn Wiens booted. A fielder's choice retired the side.

Trailing 6-0, the Hornets scored their only run in the second, helped by two more errors from Wiens. Blayne Hightower reached on one error, and Bailey Burns singled. Colten Richardson reached on another error, with Hightower scoring.

Maize South broke the game open with five runs in the third to lead 11-0. Grant Bumgardner drove in six runs in the game on a pair of doubles and a triple.

Pearson had two of Valley's four hits in the game.

"We pitched behind in the count a lot in game 1," Barnes said. "That's something we didn't do a lot in our first doubleheader.

"When you're working behind in the count, you have to throw fastballs to get it across the plate. Good high school hitters, good teams, guys hit fastballs. That's what they did."

In the nightcap, the Mavericks led 4-0 after three innings.

Aaron Diehl singled to open the fourth, and Pearson walked. Henkelman's sacrifice bunt moved both runners into scoring position, but the next two batters flew out.

The Hornets got on the board in the sixth. Mavs reliever Cody Fayette walked the first two batters who moved up twice — on a passed ball and a wild pitch — as a run scored to make it 4-1. Fayette struck out three of the next four batters to retire the side.

Maize South added two insurance runs in the seventh.

In the bottom of the seventh, a two-out, bases loaded walk to Pearson scored a run to make it 6-2.

Diehl collected three of Valley's four hits in the game.

Strong pitching and good defense weren't enough for Valley Center to overcome a lack of timely hitting April 10, as they lost 2-0 and 2-1 at Ark City.

"I thought our pitchers gave us a chance to be successful," Barnes said. "When you throw complete games, less than 90 pitches, you should win ball games. Unfortunately, we didn't scratch runs across the board to help them out."

In game 1, the Bulldogs scored the only runs of the game, with their only two hits of the game, in the bottom of the first. After scoring twice, Ark City had runners at second and third with no out when Wyatt Jones struck out the next three batters to end the inning.

Offensively the Hornets only had two hits themselves. Henkelman singled to lead off the second, and Wes Hager legged out an infield hit with one down in the seventh.

Valley Center had at least one base runner in every inning except the first, including the leadoff batter three times, but couldn't push anything across.

Jones pitched well enough to win. Except for hitting three batters, his control was on. He struck out six and walked one in losing for the third time this year.

Henkelman's RBI single in the first inning of the second game gave the Hornets their only run of the day. Ark City scored one in the third and one in the fourth to take the win.

Again, Valley had base runners in every inning except one. Its best opportunities came in the final two innings.

Trailing 2-0 with two outs in the sixth, Zach Gillig was at first and Henkelman at third when Gillig started for second. The throw went from the pitcher to the shortstop, who walked Gillig back to first, all the while keeping an eye on Henkelman at third. Suddenly, Gillig tried to run around the shortstop and was called out for running out of the base path.

Gavin Adams singled to open the seventh. Hager laid down a sacrifice bunt that neither the pitcher nor the catcher could come up with, and both runners were safe.

Jones bounced to the pitcher who forced Adams at third. Pearson struck out, and Richardson hit into a force out to end the game.

Pearson was the hard-luck loser for Valley Center. He pitched six innings, allowed two runs, scattered six hits, walked one and struck out eight.

JV loses four — Valley also dropped doubleheaders to Maize South (9-4, 8-5) and Ark City (5-1, 9-0).

In the first game, the Mavericks pushed across five runs in the top of the fifth to break a 4-all tie for the win. Bryson Mosher took the loss for the Hornets.

Game 2 saw Maize South lead 6-4 after the first inning. The Mavs added single runs in the second and third, while Valley tacked on one run in the fourth. Jared Newton, Cooper Watkins and Weston Jennings each had a double for Valley Center. Titus Elsner was the losing pitcher.

The Hornets had 11 hits in the doubleheader. Myles Thompson and Wyatt Hager each had two hits.Watkins had two RBIs, one in each game.

Valley's defense played well in the twin bill, committing just one error.

Ark City expanded a 2-1 lead with three runs in the third and posted a 5-1 victory in game 1. Jennings had two of Valley's four hits, a single and a double. Thompson took the loss.

The second game was no contest, as Ark City led 6-0 after the first inning. The Bulldogs went on to win 9-0. Again, Valley had four hits in the game, scattered among four different players. Watkins gave up all six runs in the first and took the loss.

Valley Center is idle until April 17 when it hosts Andover Central.

Ark City 2, Valley Center 0

VC 000 000 0 — 0 2 2

ARK 200 000 x — 2 2 2

Jones and Richardson; O'Toole and Nittler. W — O'Toole. L — Jones (0-3). 2B — ARK: Nittler.

Ark City 2, Valley Center 1

VC 100 000 0 — 1 7 1

ARK 001 100 x — 2 7 2

Pierson and Richardson; Van Deventer, Gonzales (7) and Nittler. W — Van Deventer. L — Pierson (0-1). 2B — ARK: Fiorentino, O'Toole. 3B — ARK: Brautman.

Maize South 16, Valley Center 1

MS 515 41 — 16 14 3

VC 010 00 — 1 4 2

Koster and Roland; Jones, Diehl (3) and Richardson. W — Koster. L — Jones (0-2), 2B — MS: Bumgardner 2, Epp. 3B — MS: Bumgardner.

Maize South 6, Valley Center 2

MS 211 000 2 — 6 7 2

VC 000 001 1 — 2 4 2

Looper, Foyette (6) and Roland; Berschauer, Gillig (5) and Richardson. W — Looper. L — Berschauer (1-1). 3B — MS: Wiens, Hanna.