Post 366 splits with Knights years ago
By RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
Chalk up one more loss due to missed opportunity for the Hillsboro American Legion Post 366 baseball team. Of 366's eight losses, half have come from failing to capitalize on opportunities to manufacture runs.
Hillsboro missed its fourth opportunity Thursday night when the Newton Knights junior team came knocking at the door.
Newton nipped Hillsboro in the opener, 3-2, but 366 came from behind in the nightcap for a zany 7-6 finish in a pair of five-inning games.
Fielding errors put 366 in a hole in the opener and they couldn't even recover with Mitch Enos on the mound.
A pair of errors to start the game cost Hillsboro all three of Newton's runs, and 366 was fighting from behind the entire game.
One of several missed chances came in 366's half of the first inning after Caleb Marsh led off with a base hit.
Marsh moved all the way to third, but ended up stranded in scoring position.
Marsh made up for it in the bottom of third, taking a 1-1 pitch deep for Hillsboro's only two runs.
Twice in the third inning Hillsboro had the go-ahead run at the plate with one away.
But Newton escaped the inning with minimal damage done and handed Enos the defeat.
The finale started much like the early game with the Knights taking a 1-0 lead on a throwing error to third base.
Newton followed up the error with an RBI sacrifice to swipe both runs from 366 starter Jimmy Shipman, who held the Knights hitless.
Post 366 may never see an easier pitcher this season than Knight starter Sean Sewell in the nightcap. Boasting a peculiar off-speed throw, Sewell somehow kept 366 from breaking the game wide open.
Hillsboro didn't hesitate responding this time as Kyle Jilka chopped the lead in two with an RBI single.
Enos' RBI sacrifice knotted the game at 2-2 to close out the first inning.
Taking a hitless game into the second inning, Shipman surrendered another pair of unearned runs to again make it a two- run game, on a walk and another RBI sacrifice.
Shipman and Hillsboro got out of what could have been a disastrous second, yielding just two runs for the 4-2 lead.
If Hillsboro ever gained the big shift in momentum, it came in the bottom half of the third, getting under Sewell's skin..
A wild pitch trimmed the Newton lead to 4-3 before Shipman scored the game-tying double.
Michael Bookless capped off the third inning fireworks, driving in two on a single to finally knock Sewell out of the game.
The Knights continued stealing runs in the top of the fourth, this time with Clayton Garnica on the mound in relief.
Newton pulled to 6-5 on yet another RBI sacrifice before Garnica's wild pitch scored the tying run.
Jilka came to the rescue in the bottom half of the fourth, closing out 366's scoring with the eventual game-winning single.
Enos slammed the door on the Knights in the top half of the fifth to pick up the save with Garnica notching his first win of the year.
