Ark Valley News - Hornets sweep league doubleheader

Wyatt Jones pitches against Wichita North April 24. Jones picked up the win for the Hornets.

Hornets sweep league doubleheader
By Randy Fisher
Last Updated: April 26, 2018

With three victories in the past week, the Valley Center High School baseball team has now won four out of its last five games. The Hornets swept Andover April 20 and split a triangular April 24 with Campus and Wichita North, improving to 5-7 overall and 3-5 in Ark Valley Chisholm Trail League II.

The Hornets did something at home against Andover they hadn't done since May 3, 2016: sweep a league doubleheader, 1-0 and 4-2.

Game 1 saw Valley's Kadin Pearson and Andover's Grady Schmidt match goose eggs through seven innings. Their duel ended in the eighth when the Hornets pushed across the only run of the game against reliever Connor Hall.

“Kadin Pearson did a fantastic job on the mound," coach Nick Barnes said. “Throw a shutout ball game, win 1-0, eight innings."

Pearson went the distance. He scattered five hits while striking out seven and walking two.

He also scored the game's only run. In the eighth, he beat out an infield hit behind third base. After Colten Richardson walked, Aaron Diehl laid down a sacrifice bunt that the Trojans could not come up with and all hands were safe. Chandler Henkelman's high infield chopper stayed in the air long enough for Pearson to scamper home with the winning run.

Valley Center had nine hits, all singles. Henkelman was 3 for 3 and Diehl 2 for 2.

“I felt like we had guys in position to score at times but we just didn't get them across," Barnes said. “We were fortunate enough to get the one that mattered."

Game 2 saw the Hornets leading 3-0 after two innings.

The first inning found Pearson at third and Diehl at second. They both later scored on wild pitches. In the second inning, Zach Gillig scored from second on an RBI single from Bailey Burns.

Despite issuing seven walks in three-plus innings, Henkelman held the Trojans scoreless. He walked five in the first two innings. After issuing two more walks in the fourth, Barnes went to the pen. Mason Burns came in and gave up a single to load the bases. He then struck out the next two batters to end the inning.

When the first two Andover batters reached in the sixth, Gillig replaced Burns. A single loaded the bases for the Trojans. They scored twice on groundouts to make it 3-2 before Gillig got the final out of the inning.

Hall took to the mound for Andover in the sixth, and Valley scored an insurance run on a bases-loaded passed ball to make it 4-2.

Andover got the tying runs on first and second with no outs in the seventh. Gillig set down the next three batters, two via strikeouts, to end the game.

Valley's three pitchers allowed six hits but walked 10 batters and stranded 11 Andover runners.

Pearson and Richardson each collected two of Valley's seven hits.

“We knew going into the night we could easily get two wins," Pearson said. “I feel like we believed that from the beginning, and we just took on the game in a whole new mentality that we needed to keep going through the rest of the season."

Barnes said the Hornets competed well.

“When you compete and you struggle and overcome that struggle and still find a way to be successful, that shows the character of the individual who's pitching and the kids on the team competing," he said. “It's nice to be on the other side of a close game, come out and be successful."

Despite this momentum, the Hornets stumbled in a 7-0 loss to Campus at home April 24. They bounced back to shut out Wichita North 10-0 in five innings.

“It's important that we responded in the fashion that we did," Barnes said. “Any time you can salvage your day by winning game two after losing game one, it's a positive."

Against Campus, Valley had its chances early, collecting four hits and leaving five runners on base in the first two innings. The Hornets' best chance came in the second when they had four base runners but nothing to show for it.

After that, Campus' Tanner Leslie took over. He retired 15 of the last 16 batters to prevent Valley from mounting any further scoring opportunities.

The Colts pushed across the only run they really needed in the second on an opposite-field single. They put the game away with three unearned runs against starter Cason Berschauer in the third. Mason Burns came on to pitch in the fourth and immediately gave up two more runs. The Colts ended the scoring with one run in the sixth for the final tally of 7-0.

Four different hitters generated just four hits for Valley Center, none after the second inning.

Valley put Wichita North away early, scoring seven runs in the first. Hightower and Pearson knocked in two runs each, while Diehl and Hager each had an RBI single.

The Hornets added two in the second on RBI singles from Hightower and Gillig. They wrapped up the scoring with a run in the third on Henkelman's single.

Valley pounded out 12 hits. Hightower went 3 for 3 with two runs scored and two RBI. Henkelman and Hager each had a pair of safeties.

Wyatt Jones and Myles Thompson combined to throw a five-inning, two-hit shutout. For Thompson, a freshman, it was his first-ever varsity action.

“I thought he worked ahead in the count and was able to get some outs. I thought he kept his ball around the zone," Barnes said of Thompson. “If you can do that, you're gonna have success."

It took Thompson a few batters to settle into a groove. And a 9-0 cushion didn't hurt, either.

“They were able to put up some runs and get me in there," Thompson said. “Especially for my first varsity action, it was nice to get in there with not a lot of pressure. Just to get some confidence and hopefully pitch in some closer games as the year goes on."

JV splits four — Valley's junior varsity split with Andover, lost to Campus and beat Wichita North.

The Hornets lost 12-3 to the Trojans before winning 7-6 in a walk-off.

Andover led 6-3 in Game 1 when it scored five times in the sixth. Cooper Watkins, Weston Jennings, Wyatt Hager and Carson Kraus each had two hits.

In Game 2, the Hornets posted five runs in the third for a 6-5 lead. Andover tied the score in the fifth to set the stage for a wild finish with the winning run scoring on a wild pitch. No Hornet had more than one hit. Phil Metcalf had three RBI.

The Hornets lost to Campus 9-8 and beat Wichita North 15-0.

Against Campus, Valley scored six runs in the third and one in the fourth to ease in front 7-6. The Colts tied the game in the fifth and scored two in the sixth for a 9-7 lead. Valley got one of them back in the bottom half of the inning and had runners at first and second with two outs but couldn't score. Kekoa Vincent had two hits for the Hornets.

They had no trouble with Wichita North, pounding the Redskins 15-0 in three innings. Mason Burns and Carson Kraus each had three hits, with Kraus scoring three times. Wyatt Hager was 2 for 2 with three RBI.

Valley Center 1, Andover 0 (eight innings)

AND 000 000 00 — 0 5 1

VC 000 000 01 — 1 6 1

G. Schmidt, Hall (8) and Cozad: Pearson and Richardson. W — Pearson (1-1). L – Hall. 2B — AND: Brown.

Valley Center 4, Andover 2

AND 000 002 0 — 2 5 0

VC 210 001 x — 4 7 1

Nicklaus, Hall (6) and Cozad; Henkelman, M. Burns (4), Gillig (6) and Richardson. W — Gillig (1-0). L — Nicklaus. 2B — AND: Nicklaus; VC: Diehl.

Campus 7, Valley Center 0

CAM 013 201 0 — 7 9 1

VC 000 000 0 — 0 4 2

Leslie and Hartley; Berschauer, M. Burns (4) and Richardson. W — Leslie. L — Berschauer (2-2). 3B — CAM: Martinez, Leslie.

Valley Center 10,

Wichita North 0

WN 000 00 — 0 4 1

VC 721 0 x — 10 12 1

Gomez, Ramos (1) and Ramos, Escamilla (1); Jones, Thompson (3) and Richardson. W — Jones (1-3). L — Gomez. 2B — VC: Henkelman.