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Hillman baseball falls in regional title game

MAPLE CITY- For the second consecutive year, the Hillman baseball team suffered defeat in the regional championship game.

After winning a classic against Maple City Glen Lake in the regional semifinal, the Tigers fell in the regional final to Gaylord St. Mary, 15-4.

The Tigers were able to avenge last season’s loss in a regional semifinal game against Glen Lake in a wild game to kick off regional play that featured many twists and turns.

After falling to Glen Lake in the regional title game a year ago, Hillman got some revenge, but it took the team eight innings to knock off the Lakers, 6-1.

“It was an instant classic. They knocked us off in the championship last year and every time we play this team it is a great baseball game,” Hillman coach Rick Firman said.

The Tigers opened the scoring in the top of the third inning when Dylan Steinke reached to lead off the inning after being hit by a pitch. Steinke came around to score on an RBI single off the bat of Kyler Moir.

Hillman held the one-run lead and Moir got the first two batters out in the home half of the sixth when the Tigers committed a costly a few costly errors that started with a dropped pop up to the mound and an over throw to first base that put the tying run just 90 feet away at third base.

The Lakers’ Travis Moore came through with a clutch two out single to tie the game at one heading into the seventh.

Hillman failed to score in the seventh and found itself in danger as two of the first three Lakers reached to set up a first and third situation with one away.

Instead of walking the bases loaded, the Tigers gambled and it paid off as the Lakers tried to win the game on a suicide squeeze, but popped it up and Moir caught the ball and threw it to third to turn a game saving double play.

Hillman used the momentum and scored five runs in the top of the eighth to break the game wide open and advance to the regional championship game for the second year in a row.

“That game was a perfect example of Hillman baseball. We put the ball in play, moved runners around and found ways to score late in the game when we needed to. It was just a great, well played game,” Firman said.

Moir pitched all eight innings to pick up the win, striking out five, scattered five hits and walked two.

At the plate, Steinke reached base all four times and scored two runs. Moir collected two hits and two RBI. Kory Henigan had two hits and an RBI and Bubba Banks collected an RBI.

The Tigers kept the momentum going early in the championship game against Gaylord St. Mary, but had one tough inning that eventually led to their demise.

The Snowbirds opened the scoring in the top of the first inning and took a one run lead, but Hillman responded scoring two in the first and two in the second to take a three-run lead.

Hillman pitcher Jared Juergens retired the first two batters to start the third inning, but the Snowbirds put together an incredible two-out rally where every batter in the order reached safely with two out in the third as they scored eight runs on six hits to take a 9-4 lead.

“I can second guess myself all I want, but I didn’t want to pull the hook of my guy. Jared is a great pitcher and he is going to be great moving forward. I didn’t wanna ruin his confidence and we didn’t execute the way we needed to. It was rough, but it was a huge swing in momentum,” Firman said.

The Tigers were unable to recover from the huge momentum swing and were held scoreless the rest of the game, while Gaylord St. Mary added one run in the fifth and five more in the six and turned a game ending double play to capture the regional crown.

“I can’t be more happy with the way our kids played today and all season. This is where we want to be on a yearly basis, competing for championships. This team showed a ton of pride all season and I could not be any happier with the work they put in all season,” Firman said.

Steinke ended a stellar senior season going 3-for-4 with an RBI triple in his final game wearing the orange and black. Moir and Brent Kenyon each collected two hits. Banks, Andrew Funk, Trenton Hopp, Caine Hunt and Juergens all collected a hit apiece in the championship game defeat.

“It will be hard to replace our seniors. We have a lot of underclassmen and if they continue to develop the way these seniors did, we have a chance to be an outstanding team for a long time and that’s the plan,” Firman said.

Jonny Zawacki can be reached via email at jzawacki@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5690.

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