Nine of Highlands 19 games on the season have been decided by three runs or less.
Thursday was no different with Ryle, who had already owned a one-run victory over the Bluebirds to begin Highlands season on March 21.
Highlands returned the favor at Highland Hills Park, Zach DeSylva’s two-run walk-off single giving them a 9-8 victory.
After seeing a 6-5 lead slip away in the top half of the seventh with Ryle plating three runs, the Bluebirds remained poised and were able to put runners on second and third after John Donelan’s one-out RBI double. Ryan DeBurger was intentionally walked to load the bases with one out, DeSylva depositing a 2-2 pitch to right field, bringing home two for the victory.
“He was throwing kind of hard so I had to shorten up my swing and put it in play,” DeSylva said. “It worked, was able to hit it past the second baseman. We just have a can’t give up attitude and that showed today.”
Highlands was 1-6 in said games prior to this one. They’re learning from those experiences as they try to put the best product of themselves out when it matters most in mid to late May.
“It was nice to see us respond. Early on we felt like we’ve given some games away and today it was really nice to have a comeback with a couple big hits,” Bluebirds coach Jeremy Baioni said. “Just a bunch of good teams in this region. Everyday you have to grind it out and make plays to win any game in the region.”
They tallied nine hits in the contest, Donelan with three of them. Drew Barth recorded two hits with two RBI, Jack Hendrix with a solo homerun in the first to get them out to a 1-0 lead.
Hendrix started the game on the mound, pitching four innings and despite not having his best stuff, allowed three hits, an earned run off the bat of Roman Furuta on a solo shot in the third to tie the game up at one and struck out four with three walks.
“He wasn’t feeling 100% today, just wasn’t sharp. Last couple times out we could throw any pitch in any count for strikes and he just wasn’t feeling some pitches today. He wore down pretty quickly and pulled him a little earlier than expected or had anticipated,” Baioni said.
Walks were an issue for the Bluebirds and is what essentially got Ryle back in the game. Trailing 6-3 in the sixth, Ryle drew four walks and a hit by pitch to score two runs and get within one.
They drew two more walks in the seventh as a couple of wild pitches and passed balls advanced runners, Tate Cordrey’s slide under the tag of Bluebirds catcher Brennan Kelsay giving them a 7-6 lead. Cody Hemmert’s sac fly RBI later in the inning gave them a 8-6 lead headed into the final frame.
Ryle drew 10 walks and a hit by pitch in the contest.
“This year we’ve really kind of focused on the idea of strike zone control. And we’ve done a really good job of kind of knowing the zone and not really chasing a lot of pitches. So very pleased with the approaches. Very pleased with getting the bat on the ball, Hendrix is one of the better pitchers in the region and felt like we battled him,” Raiders coach Joe Aylor said.
But Ryle has had success in these tight-knit games so far this season. They were 5-3 in games decided by three runs or less coming in, but were unable to close the door in this one, giving them their sixth loss of the season.
Vinny Witte constantly had to work around jams thanks to several Raider defensive miscues. He pitched 4.1 innings and allowed six runs, but only two of them were earned.
“We told him basically from here to the end of the season it’s getting ready for postseason. We’re trying to find that three and four in our rotation and we need those top five guys basically to to go to the postseason, and he threw a hell of a game,” Aylor said.
Sam Eppely took the loss in relief, going two innings, allowing four hits and three earned runs, all of them coming in the seventh.
Keegan Flaherty and Caleb Mann had two hits apiece for the Raiders, Landon Sawyer and Furuta driving in two runs apiece for the Raiders. Furuta had to exit the game early due to injury and was unable to return.
Carson Welch got the win for Highlands, pitching the drama filled seventh.
Highlands has two more games to close out the week, a 36th District contest with Bellevue on Friday and Conner on Saturday at Thomas More Stadium in the Mike Epplen Dirty Hat Classic.
Ryle gets a day of rest before a doubleheader with Ohio County and Paul Laurence Dunbar on Saturday. The Raiders clinched the No. 1 seed in the 33rd District this week with two wins over Conner on Tuesday and Wednesday, going 6-0 in district play. Everything from now until mid-May will be things to work on as they prepare for the postseason.
“The region tournament is wide open. Our district will even be tough to get out of. You look at the top five or six teams and anyone can win it. We’ve talked to the guys how we can’t give extra outs like we did today,” Aylor said. “Just need to clean some things up. We’ve got the pieces, we’ve got the hitting, we’ve got the pitching and most of the time we have the defense. Just need to tighten up the ship a little bit.”
RYLE — 001-022-3 — 8-6-4
HIGHLANDS — 102-030-3 — 9-9-2
2B — (H) Donelan
HR — (R) Furuta (H) Hendrix
LOB — (R) 9 (H) 5
WP — Welch. LP — Eppely.
Records: Ryle 13-6, Highlands 11-8