Big efforts from players who spent their high school careers on area baseball diamonds allowed the Hoptown Hoppers to come away with a split of Thursday night’s home doubleheader against the Henderson Flash at Christian County High School.
In the opener, Henderson starter Ryan Wattermann, from pitched five innings of one-hit baseball as the Flash took a 5-2 win over the Hoppers. The Hoppers did not help their cause in the field, being charged with four errors in the game.
Wattermann, from Minnesota-Duluth and Hoptown starter Collin Teodter, from Houston Christian, were locked up in a scoreless pitchers duel for the first four innings.
The Flash finally broke through in the top of the 5th. With runners on first and second, Christian Kiper, from Bellarmine, singled to right with two outs. A Hopper error in the outfield allowed Andrew Lee to score the game’s first run and put Henderson up 1-0.
The Flash extended the lead with a pair of runs in the top of the sixth, scoring on a bases-loaded hit batter and a bases-loaded walk to make it 3-0.
The Hoppers got back in the game in the bottom half of the inning when former Hopkinsville and Heritage Christian Academy standout J.J. Thompson took a rocket shot over the fence in right, cutting the lead to 3-2. Thompson ended up with two hits in the game, the only hits of the game for Hoptown.
Henderson got the runs back in the top of the seventh with a pair of walks, a sac fly, and an RBI single as the Flash held on for the win.
J.J. Thompson, who just finished his freshman season at Wright State with an appearance in the NCAA tournament, led the Hoppers at the plate going 2-3 with a triple, a home run, two RBIs, and a run scored.
Collin Teodter was tagged with the loss for Hopkinsville despite giving up just two runs, only one of them earned, on three hits, striking out six and walking two.
The nightcap saw the Hoppers break a tie game with four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning on their way to a 6-4 win over the Flash.
Both teams came out quickly in this one, scoring two runs each in the first inning. Henderson used two singles, two walks, and two errors on the same play to take a 2-0 lead after one-half inning.
Hoptown came right back to tie the game in the bottom half of the first. Grady Broughton, from the University of Indianapolis, led off the inning with a double. After Trigg County grad Aidon Butts and Dominick Bello were hit by pitches, Carson Tucker, from Hillsdale College, grounded into a fielder’s choice to drive in a run. Another run scored on a Henderson error on the same play to even the game at 2-2.
The score stayed tied until the bottom of the fourth inning. The Hoppers used two singles, two Flash errors, and a walk to plate four runs and take the lead for good at 6-2.
The Flash nearly got back in the game in the top of the 7th with a pair of walks, two Hoptown errors and a single, but the Hoppers were able to stop the bleeding and hold on for the two-run win.
Hoptown was led by Hopkinsville grad Gavin Powell, who went 1-3 with two RBIs and a run scored. Trigg County grad Aidon Butts ended up 1-3 with an RBI and a run scored. J.J. Thompson finished out his night by going 1-2 with a run scored.
Another area player, Hopkinsville grad Jacob Dilday got the win in relief for the Hoppers. He went two innings, giving up two hits, and struck out five.
With the doubleheader split the Hoppers go to 4-10 for the season.
One Response
Game changer had it wrong, Dilday didn’t give up a run. The count wouldn’t add up