Better than expected season ends for Trojan baseball team
Sports reporter
All year the Hillsboro High School baseball team heard how it exceeded expectations during the regular season. After finishing 12-6 heading into regionals, the Trojans proved it.
Trailing 7-5 in the bottom of the seventh inning May 15, Travis Riesen saved his best for last by blasting a three-run, walk-off, home run to beat Wichita Collegiate in the first round of regionals, his only hit of the game.
HHS had trailed 7-2 heading into the final inning, and it looked as if its storybook season had come to the last chapter.
Instead Alex Jost walked with one out, Chad Hughbanks reached on an error, and Adam Scheele knocked in the first run of the inning with a double.
Two batters later Troy Frick brought home two runs with a double, before Riesen delivered the knockout punch.
The victory gave the Trojans their 13th of the season, three more than they set out to achieve at the start of the year.
"It far exceed what many people expected," head coach Phil Oelke said.
The coach, in his second stint with HHS, brought the team to unexpected heights after it won just three games each of the last two years.
But like every team except the champ, Hillsboro's season ended with a loss. Another opponent from Wichita, this time Trinity, defeated the Trojans, 12-2.
"They were the most fundamentally sound team that I have seen in a long time," Oelke said.
Lucas Hamm proved the only punch for the Trojans with a solo home run, and Frick had two singles for the only other hits.
Still, Oelke was proud of his team's efforts.
"I'm hoping the team will continue to build on what it learned this spring," he said. "I'm very grateful to this year's team for its hard work, willingness to play as a team, and mental approach to the game."
