The Heritage Christian Academy baseball team is spending the season with one foot in the KCAA and the other in the KHSAA ahead of joining the 8th District next season, and Saturday’s doubleheader with Cornerstone Christian and Oak Ridge provided an opponent from each association.
Unfortunately for the Warriors, both results were the same, with the opener against Cornerstone getting away from HCA late in a 22-5 defeat and a lead slipping away in the middle innings of an 8-6 loss to Oak Ridge.
In the matchup with Cornerstone, the Warriors only trailed 4-2 in the bottom of the 4th after Cadyn Travis singled to drive in a run, but things went south from there.
A five-run 6th blew the game open, highlighted by RBI singles by Kenneth Baker, Kacee Biddle, and Mason Mercer, and a two-run double by Jack Stewart, for a 10-2 Bulldog lead.
Cornerstone erupted for 12 runs in its final at-bat to end any hope of a Warrior comeback. Stewart led the way for the Bulldogs with four hits and four runs driven in, followed by Biddle with a pair of hits and three RBI. Stewart also earned the win on the mound, allowing three runs, two earned, on four hits with four walks and seven strikeouts.
Tra Fowler took the loss for the Warriors, giving up eight runs, six earned, on five hits with five walks and six strikeouts. Carson Powell had two hits with a pair of RBI, Fowler had two hits, and Zachary Oesch and Travis each drove in a run.
In the second game, HCA used a double by Zachary Oesch and an RBI single by Travis to take a 3-0 lead in the first inning. However, Oak Ridge answered with a pair of runs in the subsequent two frames before the Warriors tied the game at 4-4 when Boyd came home on an error in the 3rd.
Hunter Lawson’s RBI double highlighted a three-run 4th to put Oak Ridge in front for good. The teams traded runs in the 5th and 6th innings, and the Warriors trailed 8-5 when they came to bat in the bottom of the 7th.
A one-out, inside-the-park home run by Fowler cut the margin to two, but a pair of ground outs ended the game and sent the Warriors to a sixth-straight defeat.
Eli Oaks got all but the final out on the mound for Oak Ridge, surrendering six runs, only one earned, on five hits with no walks and 13 strikeouts.
Powell suffered the loss for HCA, going three and two-thirds innings while giving up seven runs, four earned, on five hits with seven walks and eight strikeouts. Boyd came on in relief and held Oak Ridge to a single run on a hit with two walks and five strikeouts.
Fowler had two hits for the Warriors, and Boyd and Travis each drove in two runs.
