Lions take Game 1 over Smithville in run-rule victory
Apr. 25—HAMILTON — Blake Gosa got the Hamilton Lions going during Tuesday's rivalry game against Smithville, and his teammates joined in to cruise to a 12-2 win in Game 1 of their Class 1A first-round playoff series.
"Blake's been hot here lately," Hamilton coach Dallas Flippo said. "He lets the ball travel, and he doesn't get off balance a whole lot. He's really grown as a hitter, and the best thing about it is we'll have him back for another year."
Smithville scored a pair of runs in the first on Jeremiah Brooks's double and Lane O'Brian's RBI single to take a 2-0 lead. The Lions answered back with a six-run bottom of the first highlighted by an RBI single from Gosa, an RBI double by Drake Pittman and an RBI on a sac fly from Suede Shows.
Gosa continued to barrel the ball in the bottom of the second, smashing an RBI double to left field to put Hamilton up 7-2.
The Lions put the game away with a five-run fourth inning to run-rule Smithville. After JD Whitaker reached on an error, Wyatt Baggett hit an RBI double, and Gosa followed with an RBI single.
Hamilton loaded the bases after a walk and hit-by-pitch, and Evan Pounders drilled a two-run double to put the Lions up 11-2. Pittman scored the final run of the night on a balk.
"When we got a quality pitch, we squared it up, and that's one thing that we've been up and down with all year," Flippo said. "When we hit that ball like that, we're hard to beat, and we ended up having a great night against a rival to start the playoffs."
Extra Bases
Big Inning: After falling behind 2-0 in the first, Hamilton answered with a six-run bottom of the first with RBIs from Gosa, Pittman and Shows.
Big Stat: Gosa went 3 for 3 at the plate, adding three RBIs and a double for the Lions.
Coach Speak: "We scored a couple of runs in the first, but we couldn't get runners in scoring position much after that. We've had a hard time finding strikes, and it's been the same problem for us all year." — Smithville's Ben Spann
