CHARLOTTESVILLE — Two big innings proved to be enough for Eastern Hancock to pull away from Blue River Valley on Wednesday.
The Royals (3-7, 1-1 MEC) batted around the order twice, sending nine batters to the plate in both the third and fourth innings, piling on 10 runs in the frames en route to a 15-5, five-inning victory against the visiting Vikings (0-7, 0-4).
The third inning gave Eastern Hancock a big cushion. Seven Royals batters came to the plate before an out was recorded, with four singles, a double, a walk and an error leading to six runs scoring in the inning.
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The Royals repeated that success in the fourth, starting the inning with three straight singles and plating four runs in the frame thanks to a two-run double by Russell Locker and a pair of walks.
Easton Fields led off both innings with singles. Addison True, Andrew Knoblock, Ryan Burris and Locker also all reached safely in both innings.
Leading 14-5 after four innings, the Royals got the final run they needed in the fifth when True walked, advanced to second on a wild pitch, stole third, and stole home on a dropped strikeout when the catcher threw to first to secure that out.
Runners were in motion for the Royals all day, as the team amassed eight stolen bases in the win.
“We’ve been struggling with runners on base,” Royals coach Chad Coughenour said. “We really worked on putting balls in play with two strikes and moving runners.”
Blue River Valley had started the game with momentum, thanks in part to Eastern Hancock’s slow infield. The Vikings’s Mason Crisp led off the game with a slow roller to the pitcher that was bobbled, and after a strikeout, two slow-moving grounders wound up as infield singles to load the bases. A hit batter plated a run, but a strikeout and groundout got the Royals out of the inning just one run down.
The Vikings lead wouldn’t last long.
Three extra-base hits propelled the Royals to the lead in the bottom of the first. After a walk and a wild pitch, A.J. Muegge tripled, Fields doubled and Burris doubled to put the hosts on top 3-1 after an inning.
While he gave up five runs on seven hits in the five innings on the mound, Knoblock was able to hold the Vikings at bay behind the power of a dozen strikeouts.
“It took until the third inning or so for them to even get a ball out of the infield,” Coughenour said of the job his pitcher did. “He threw the ball well, mixed things up.”
The start of the game — the error followed by infield singles — could have given the visitors momentum and disheartened the Royals.
It didn’t. The team played with confidence and trust, according to Fields.
“We’ve got to trust Andrew,” Fields said. “We have faith in him, faith in our defense.”
Fields led the way for the Royals offensively, finishing 3 for 4 with an RBI. Knoblock, Burris and Locker each had two hits, as the Royals compiled 12 as a team. Knoblock had three RBIs, and Burris, Locker and Payton Wilkinson each had two.
After starting the year 1-7, Eastern Hancock has bounced back with consecutive wins. They look to keep momentum going today against Wes-Del (7-3) in another conference game.
“That’s the nice thing about having 10 seniors,” Coughenour said. “We’re starting to play baseball like we should be.”
