HILLSBORO: Baseball squad sweeps Inman
By RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
Some teams can go a full seven innings and some can play four or five.
Somewhere in between you'd find the Trojans and the Inman Teutons.
If the Teutons could play more than a good inning of baseball, they'd be a formidable opponent for anyone.
But one inning was all the Teutons could muster Tuesday in the regular-season finale in Hillsboro, bolting out of the gate to take respective 6-0 and 5-0 leads.
After that, it was all Hillsboro.
Playing their final game in Hillsboro, it would only seem fitting that James Bina and Dustin Jost provide the fireworks.
Bina drove in five RBIs in the opener, going deep twice with two- and three-run homers to help the Trojans blast Inman 15-7.
Jost finished the nightcap a double shy of hitting for the cycle, finishing the day driving with a total of five RBIs as the Trojans rolled 15-6.
Hillsboro ends the regular season with a 14-6 mark, winning five of its last six.
The Trojans proved they can handle adversity, outscoring Inman 30-2 to overcome the Teutons' big first innings.
Despite blowing the games open early, Hillsboro struggled all night to find consistency on the mound.
That could prove to be a downfall for the Trojans if they falter on the mound at regionals.
"We got two games in," said Trojan coach Phil Oelke. "Our all-around pitching has to improve for us at regionals."
Starting the opener at pitcher, Jost ran into trouble right away, giving up a grand slam to Terry Almquist in the first.
But Andy Brubacher didn't let the Trojans roll over, sparking a first inning rally by driving in a run on a Teuton error.
Brubacher trimmed the lead to 6-2, scoring on a wild throw before Graham Ratzlaff cut it in two on a single.
Jerod Metcalf capped off the three-hit first inning, popping a two-run single to pull the Trojans to within 6-5 as part of his four RBI game.
Inman could only keep the Trojans down one inning with Shawn Hughbanks scoring the game-tying single.
Merely a freshman, Hughbanks' brother Chad, made his first varsity start at first base in the absence of Ben Walker.
Bina put the Trojans over the hill for good in the second, cracking a three-run shot.
He struck again in the third, pushing the Trojans' lead to 11-6 with a two-run blast.
Kris Jones doubled Inman over 12-6 in the bottom of the fifth with a sacrifice fly.
Metcalf took over for Jost in the top of the sixth to mark the end of Jost's seven-hit game. Of the six runs Jost allowed, only two were unearned.
Metcalf was greeted in the sixth with a solo home run by Travis Achilles which again cut the Trojan lead to five.
But only until the bottom of the sixth when Hillsboro again left the Teutons doubled up, 14-7, after stealing a pair of runs from throwing errors.
"Metcalf threw well and I thought Jost threw incredibly well, too," Oelke said. "I thought our defense actually played pretty well tonight.
The second game had Steve Chisholm getting roughed up to start the game, beaning a Teuton to load up the bases with no outs.
Inman used a trio of hits to take a 5-0 lead before the Trojans again erupted in their half of the inning.
Three run-scoring singles by the trio of Jones, Chisholm, and Jost were enough to break the Teutons' backs.
Jost nailed a home alone shot in the bottom of the third to double over the Teutons, 10-5.
Hillsboro had at least three chances in both games to bury Inman before six and a half innings.
Lyons
Oelke had plenty of reasons to worry about Saturday's makeup game against the visiting ranked Lyons Lions.
Oelke's worries were laid to rest as the Trojans ground out a huge sweep, 7-6 in eight innings and 9-5, respectively.
The Lions wasted little time knocking around Jost in the opener, sprinting to a 5-0 lead courtesy of back-to-back roundtrippers.
Jones responded going deep with a solo shot of his own to help cut the Trojan deficit to 5-2.
Brubacher contributed one of four home runs in the game in the bottom the fifth, pulling Hillsboro to 6-4.
Jones was one of the Hillsboro's biggest heroes, taking a two-out two-run home run deep to knot the game.
A miscue on Ratzlaff's shallow pop fly to right allowed Jost to score the winning run in the bottom of the eighth.
Despite jumping on top in the finale, 2-0, the Lions' balloon was completely deflated from Hillsboro's first game comeback.
With the score knotted at 2-2 in the bottom of the fourth, Hillsboro broke the game wide open, rallying for a six runs that were highlighted by a solo home run from Metcalf.s
