MILLER CITY – State ranked Lincolnview added a pair of insurance runs in their last at bat Wednesday night to hold off a rally from Miller City on their way to an 11-8 victory.
Dane Ebel, playing in his first ever game at first base, led off the contest with a walk for the Lancers and was quickly joined by teammate Caden Hanf. Austin Bockrath’s sacrifice fly to center field and a wild pitch brought the duo across home plate to put the visitors on top 2-0 before the frame reached a conclusion.
Ebel would strike again in the second inning for the Lancers by doubling off of Miller City starter Ethan Barlage to bring in a run before himself making it a 4-0 Lincolnview lead on a Hanf single moments later.
The host Wildcats notched their first two runs of the evening in their second and third at bats to cut into the deficit on an RBI double by Ethan Ellerbrock off of Luke Bollenbacher and a second double by Caleb Niese to get within 5-2.
Working through the top of their lineup for the third time in the game to lead off the fourth, the Lancers heavy hitters slammed across a trio of runs for an 8-2 lead. Following a walk to lead off the at bat to Caden Hanf, Austin Bockrath blasted a 2-0 offering from reliever CJ Lehman over the left centerfield wall and onto the softball field next door for his first home run of the season.
“Bockrath continues to stay home for us with the big home run to center field. Most nights we have the pitching but tonight we had the sticks” said Lancers head coach Eric Fishpaw.
Perhaps heeding the advice of their head coach Dusty Pester to keep battling the Wildcats erupted for a five run fourth inning to pull within a run at 8-7. Opening the inning with a pair of base runners in Thomas Weis and Ethan Ellerbrock the Wildcats worked their way to the top of the lineup and found themselves with two outs and the bases loaded. Singles by CJ Lehman and Brent Koenig brought in runs but a triple by Caleb Niese, a shot to right center provided the punch the hosts needed to draw the score closer.
After adding a run themselves in the top of the fifth for a 10-8 lead on a sacrifice bunt by Luke Bollenbacher the Lancers found themselves shut out in the sixth and sent down 1-2-3 by reliever Ethan Ellerbrock.
Miller City, now working against reliever Keegan Ferris in the sixth produced a run on an RBI single from Jared Niese but saw their opportunity to draw even when Caleb Niese was eliminated at home plate on a perfect throw from left field for a 7-5-2 put out by the Lancers.
Responsible for seven runs in the contest, Ebel and Hanf teamed up for two in the top half of the seventh after opening the frame with singles. Ebel was brought home on a sacrifice fly from Austin Bockrath while Hanf scored on a fly out to center from Bollenbacher.
Though the Wildcats were able to put a pair of their own runners on thanks to walks, they were unable to claw any closer as a strikeout and a pair of fly outs induced by Ferris shut the door on a possible comeback.
“I thought there was a lot of patience at the plate, Miller City is a good hitting team. Two plays that stuck out to me in this game were the 7-5-2 out at the plate by Renner, Bockrath, and Moody in the later innings as well as the passed ball out at the plate by Moody and Bockrath in the third” opined Fishpaw.
Asked about the Lancers, Miller City head coach Dusty Pester stated “Lincolnview is a very solid team. We made too many defensive mistakes against a good team but we battled back to make it interesting, we just couldn’t get over the hump.”
Miller City falls to 4-6 on the season and is next in action on Thursday as they host North Baltimore. “I think we are slowly getting better as a team and are still looking to be playing our best baseball come May” Pester finished.
Lincolnview improves to 7-1 overall and will travel back to Putnam County on Thursday for a non-league tilt at Pandora Gilboa.
Luke Bollenbacher moved to 3-1 and was the winning pitcher as he went two and a third innings, allowing two runs on two hits. Keegan Ferris earned his first save of the season as he recorded the last nine outs of the game while allowing a run on two hits with four walks and three strikeouts.
Ethan Barlage (0-2) was saddled with the loss for the Wildcats as he lasted two innings, allowing three hits and four runs while striking out two.
| Lincolnview | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 10 | 3 |
| Miller City | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 8 | 4 |