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During some of the struggles for the Zionsville baseball team throughout the regular season, head coach Jered Moore stressed learning from their mistakes so that come sectional time, the Eagles would be ready to go.
They took that advice to heart on Thursday night, surviving step one of the Sectional 8 gauntlet with a 7-4 win over HCC champion Noblesville in the opening round.
"Some of the things we struggled with throughout the course of the year, we were able to put together today," Moore said. "I'm proud of them. They competed for every pitch and they battled."
Those battles were evident from the opening innings for the Eagles.
Facing one of the top senior pitchers in the state in Beckett Doane, the Eagles made him work, loading the bases in the first and third innings, but couldn't get a run across.
Moore said that while they couldn't get an early run, it showed the batters where locked in on their game plan.
"We weren't getting the big hit, and that has been an Achilles' Heel, but the kids were patient and kept battling," Moore said. "Beckett is really good, but he can be a little wild at times, so we wanted to stay patient at the plate and not swinging at balls out of the zone. We executed that pretty well."
Down 1-0 in the fourth, the Eagles took the lead when Tyler Keene scored on a passed ball.
An inning later they grabbed control. Camden Moore was hit by a pitch, and Brayden Ring and Reid Zittel followed with walks to load the bases.
Sam Haak hit a sacrifice fly to make it 2-1, before a 2-run single from Keene pushed the lead to 4-1.
Noblesville cut the lead to 4-3 in the bottom of the fifth, but the Eagles went right back to work.
Zionsville loaded the bases with one out, and Zittel drove in a run on a fielders' choice, beating out a double play ball.
An error then allowed two more runs to score to make it 7-3.
"They had just come back with two and they were staying in it and their dugout was up," Moore said. "With two innings to go, there is a lot of game left, so being able to add three more there was big, and probably hurt them mentally."
Ayden Keith then threw a perfect bottom of the sixth, and closed out the game in the seventh as well.
Starter Davis Moore went 4.0 innings and allowed three runs on four hits, striking out eight. Keith struck out five in three innings.
"Ayden has had a great year and he just competes," coach Moore said. "He is hard to hit and we feel good any time we have to go to him."
Blake Cope was 1-for-3 with two walks in the game. Ring walked three times in scoring a run.
The Eagles will face HSE in the sectional semifinal on Friday night.
Continue reading...
They took that advice to heart on Thursday night, surviving step one of the Sectional 8 gauntlet with a 7-4 win over HCC champion Noblesville in the opening round.
"Some of the things we struggled with throughout the course of the year, we were able to put together today," Moore said. "I'm proud of them. They competed for every pitch and they battled."
Those battles were evident from the opening innings for the Eagles.
Facing one of the top senior pitchers in the state in Beckett Doane, the Eagles made him work, loading the bases in the first and third innings, but couldn't get a run across.
Moore said that while they couldn't get an early run, it showed the batters where locked in on their game plan.
"We weren't getting the big hit, and that has been an Achilles' Heel, but the kids were patient and kept battling," Moore said. "Beckett is really good, but he can be a little wild at times, so we wanted to stay patient at the plate and not swinging at balls out of the zone. We executed that pretty well."
Down 1-0 in the fourth, the Eagles took the lead when Tyler Keene scored on a passed ball.
An inning later they grabbed control. Camden Moore was hit by a pitch, and Brayden Ring and Reid Zittel followed with walks to load the bases.
Sam Haak hit a sacrifice fly to make it 2-1, before a 2-run single from Keene pushed the lead to 4-1.
Noblesville cut the lead to 4-3 in the bottom of the fifth, but the Eagles went right back to work.
Zionsville loaded the bases with one out, and Zittel drove in a run on a fielders' choice, beating out a double play ball.
An error then allowed two more runs to score to make it 7-3.
"They had just come back with two and they were staying in it and their dugout was up," Moore said. "With two innings to go, there is a lot of game left, so being able to add three more there was big, and probably hurt them mentally."
Ayden Keith then threw a perfect bottom of the sixth, and closed out the game in the seventh as well.
Starter Davis Moore went 4.0 innings and allowed three runs on four hits, striking out eight. Keith struck out five in three innings.
"Ayden has had a great year and he just competes," coach Moore said. "He is hard to hit and we feel good any time we have to go to him."
Blake Cope was 1-for-3 with two walks in the game. Ring walked three times in scoring a run.
The Eagles will face HSE in the sectional semifinal on Friday night.
Continue reading...
