Eagles settle for split with Tigers
Apr. 9—ZIONSVILLE — The Zionsville baseball team gave themselves plenty of chances to put some runs across the board on Thursday night in game two of their HCC series with Fishers.
But every time the Eagles needed a big hit, they couldn't find it. Zionsville stranded 10 runners on base, including six in scoring position, and couldn't come back in a 2-1 loss to the Tigers.
The two teams split the two-game series, after Zionsville won the opener 7-6.
"That's been a problem for us," Zionsville head coach Jered Moore said. "It happened today and we got beat, but it's happened in some of the games we have won. One thing we are struggling with right now is when we get guys in scoring position, we can't get them home."
Zionsville stranded one in each of the first two innings, before stranding two in the third. In the fourth, they loaded the bases with two outs, but were unable to score.
In the sixth, the Eagles had runners on first and second with no outs, but three-straight strikeouts ended the threat.
In the seventh, trailing 2-0, Trey Firestone and Evan Jensen walked with no outs, and advanced into scoring position with no outs on a wild pitch.
But with the heart of the Eagles' order up, the Eagles only managed one run on another wild pitch, with two strike outs and a ground out ending the game.
"When you have no outs and guys on second and third and the heart of the order coming up, you feel good about your chances to get a couple runs," Moore said. "Unfortunately, their pitcher made the pitches today and we couldn't get the ball in play."
Fishers led nearly the entire game, capitalizing on an error in the first inning.
The Tigers loaded the bases with one out against Eagle ace Nate Dohm, but a pick-off throw from catcher David Novak couldn't be corralled by third baseman Zach Nehlsen and allowed two runs to score.
"Yes, he threw it away, but my issue with the play was that the ball didn't get very far past third base," Moore said. "We can't let two runs score there. We have do everything we can to block that ball. When you give a team like Fishers extra bases, they are going to capitalize on them."
Dohm was dominate after that, retiring the next 14 batters he faced. He struck out 11 in six innings, allowing just two hits.
Nehlsen had two hits for the Eagles, who also got hits from Jensen and Zach Bielecki.
The Eagles are now 4-2 on the season and 1-1 in the Hoosier Crossroads Conference.
Zionsville travels to Columbus East on Monday and Cathedral on Tuesday.
"We have a lot of season left, but tonight is a game we have to find a way to win," Moore said. "When we get to the tournament, and as talented as this team is, we want to go deep in the tournament and this is the type of game we have to win. Until we find a way to get some of these guys across the plate, and capitalize on our opponents' mistakes, we are going to struggle. It's frustrating, but we do have some time to work on things.""
Will Willems is the Sports Editor of the Lebanon Reporter. Follow him on Twitter @Will_Willems.
