A quick start Wednesday night for the Hoptown Hoppers was not enough to keep the Henderson Flash from claiming the Ohio Valley League championship. The Flash came back from an early 3-0 deficit with eight straight runs and rolled on from there to a 12-5 win over the Hoppers and complete Henderson’s two-game sweep of the OVL championship series.
Hoptown got off to the start it was looking for, pushing across three runs in the bottom of the first inning. The runs came on back-to-back homers, a two-run shot from Jordan Akins and a solo blast from Dom Hartman to give the Hoppers a 3-0 lead just one inning into the night.
But that lead was short-lived. Henderson plated four runs in the top of the second. The big hit in the inning was a two-run double from Jacob Froehlich. The Flash also took advantage of two walks from Hoppers pitching.
Henderson hung another four-spot up in the top of the third inning. That rally was kicked off by a leadoff home from Brayden Mineo, as the Flash ran the lead out to 8-3.
The Hoppers took advantage of three walks in the top of the fourth to score a run and cut the lead to 8-4.
Henderson came back with an RBI single in the fifth and an RBI double in the sixth to extend the lead to 10-4.
Brennen Gibson got one of the runs back with an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth to get the Hoppers back to within 10-5.
A two-run homer from Gunnar Waldrop in the top of the seventh gave Henderson a bit more breathing room as the lead moved out to 12-5.
But these Hoppers were not gonna go down without a fight. After a walk to leadoff the bottom of the eighth, Brennen Gibson hit a two-run homer to bring Hoptown to within 12-7. Jordan Akins followed that up with a double but then was doubled up to end the inning with the Flash still holding their five-run lead.
But on this night, there would be no late game comeback. A three-run error in the top of the ninth put Henderson back up and put the game away at 15-7.
The Flash then set the Hoppers down in order in the bottom of the inning to secure the championship.
Brennen Gibson finished his summer with another big game for the Hoppers, going 4-4 with a home run, three RBIs, and two runs scored. Jordan Akins ended up 2-5 with two RBIs and a run scored. Dom Hartman was 2-5 with an RBI and a run scored.
