Scots knock off Blue Devils

DANVILLE — With the approaching start of conference play, the Danville and Highland high school baseball teams gathered at the Blue Devils’ field on Saturday for a single game. Finishing the contest just before the gray skies burst open, the Fighting Scots were able to win, 8-3.

“We got another ‘W’ which is always good,” said Highland head coach Travis Church. “It was Kole Randolph’s first varsity game on the mound. As a freshman, I thought he settled in and pitched really well for us.”

The Scots (3-0) got a quick lead over the Danville squad (1-2), as their first three batters each marked a run on the board in the top of the opening inning. Gar Keen, Andrew Westbrook and Zac Hampton all capitalized on hits to give their team an early advantage.

Danville’s Nathan Morton and Tyler McFadden both scored in the bottom of the first, bringing the Danville squad back within one run of the lead. The Highland baseball machine kicked in its defensive abilities at that point, keeping the Blue Devils without another score until the bottom of the sixth inning.

“They are a good ball club and they’re well coached. There’s no doubt about that,” said Danville head coach Jack O’Rourke of the Highland team. “I told the guys before that we want to shoot to become that type of team. Our kids hung with them and I was proud of them for that. We’re just a little bit off on our hitting right now, but we’ll get our hitting together.”

The top of the second inning saw Highland’s lead grow to three runs, as Randolph and Jake Hampton both reached home plate. The Scots tacked one more run onto their lead in the third inning, then two more in the sixth.

“Defensively, we played really well, and we got some timely hitting,” said Church. “We had some nice two-out hits. We had some guys in key situations who hit the ball for us. If we take the approach that we did today as far as attacking the baseball and staying aggressive, we’re a pretty good hitting team.”

McFadden started on the mound for Danville, pitching a total of six innings. He allowed nine hits and eight runs, while walking two and striking out four. Derek Adam threw a total of four pitches during his one inning of relief for the Blue Devils, as he forced the side to ground out.

“McFadden pitched a great game for us,” said O’Rourke. “He was doing very good. Unfortunately, we didn’t back him up in the field early on. Since it was a non-league contest, we decided we would save his arm for next week. I was encouraged because as the game went on, he got more and more comfortable.”

Randolph started for Highland, picking up the victory. Randolph pitched the first six innings of the game, allowing four hits and three runs. He struck out four and walked two. Matt Slack pitched one inning of relief for the Scots, striking out two and walking two others.

“We’ll have to work on our situation play a little bit,” said O’Rourke. “We’re young though. As far as experience goes, we’ve only got two or three players who played last year in the positions they are now playing. I think we’re going to be all right.”

Westbrook paced Highland at the plate, hitting three singles. Keen, Randolph and Zac Hampton all crushed a double and a single apiece, while Jake Hampton had two singles. Joey Thompson hit a single.

The Danville team was led at the plate by McFadden, who ripped a double. Morton, Tim Martin and Devin Frazee all hit a single apiece.

Both ball clubs will be starting their conference play today.

“We’ve got a huge league game on Monday against Buckeye Valley at our place,” said Church. “Traditionally, they have a very good baseball program. They have some key guys coming back this year, and I know that every time we play them, its a big game for both of us, so we expect nothing different on Monday.”

Danville will head to Johnstown today for the opening game of MBC play. Both games will begin at 5 p.m.