UH rallies late to slide past Warriors, 8-4
Published 8:31 am Friday, April 26, 2019
Warrior pitcher Charlie Smith strides toward the plate as he gets ready to fire a pitch to his catcher.
Happy Valley second baseman Dylan Willis takes a high hop as shortstop Jacob Absher provides backup.
Warrior centerfielder Caden Ward zeros in on a pop fly for an out.
Dylan Willis awaits the throw from his catcher as a Buc baserunner slides into second base.
BY CARTER EVERETT
STAR CORRESPONDENT
With the district tournament right around the corner, University High took on Happy Valley in a non-conference matchup Wednesday afternoon at Angling Field on the campus of Milligan College.
Bart Wilson got things started for the Warriors hitting a warning-track double in the bottom of the first inning. He would score on a balk which was followed by an RBI single off the bat of Bryce Carter.
The Warriors took the 2-0 lead after one inning of play.
Charlie Smith pitched a shutout through three innings for the Warriors keeping them out front with a 2-0 lead.
In the top of the third, UH finally got a run on the board as a Happy Valley walk resulted in a run being scored making it 2-1.
The fourth inning was big for the Bucs as they were able to tie the ball game at 2-all with an RBI single by Carter Pollock. Pollock would later score on a wild pitch to give UH the lead 3-2.
Happy Valley seized the lead back as shortstop Jacob Absher was able to take home on a bad throw to third base. Wilson came up big with an RBI single in the inning as well to give the Warriors a 4-3 lead.
The top of the sixth inning brought a pitching change for Happy Valley as senior Bryce Carter came to the mound and was able to retire the side.
UH got off on the right foot in the top of the seventh inning as they loaded the bases with back-to-back singles followed by a perfect bunt by Jacob Peeler.
Two pitches later, Cade Pollock was able to drive two runs across the plate flipping the lead back in favor of UH to 5-4.
The runs keep pouring in as Briley Townsend hit an RBI double to increase the lead to 7-4.
Pitcher Kaleb Meredith helped himself out by ripping an RBI triple giving all the momentum to UH as they held an 8-4 lead which the Bucs made stand to the end in the victory.
After the game Coach Brad Hill from Happy Valley said he thought his team played well.
“I thought the guys battled well,” said Hill. “Charlie threw great. We will rely heavily on him next week. Got to give it to UH—they are a great ball team.”
With the district tournament approaching next week, Hill was asked what he thought his team needed to improve on to be successful.
“I’m happy with how Charlie threw today,” added Hill. “If he throws like that, we will have a chance and defensively we need to be more consistent and just get the outs when we can.”
