By John Rittenhouse
The Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth baseball team opened the 2001 season by playing a double-header in Edgerton Tuesday.
The Patriots rolled to an 8-0 win in the opener before battling the Flying Dutchmen to a draw at five in Game 2. The game was called due to darkness after seven innings of play.
A solid pitching performance by Lyle DeBoer and timely hitting late in the game set the stage for an eight-run H-BC-E victory in the opener.
DeBoer tossed six innings of shutout ball in the tilt, limiting Edgerton to one walk and four hits while fanning seven batters.
The Patriot offense ended a scoreless draw by scoring two runs in the top of the fourth inning before putting the game away with six runs in the fifth.
Darin DeBoer singled home a run and Lyle DeBoer scored on a throwing effort when H-BC-E opened the scoring in the fourth.
Lyle DeBoer and David Top delivered two-run singles to highlight the six-run uprising in the sixth. Justin Van Maanen, who led the Patriots with three hits in the opener, added a run-scoring single in the sixth.
A late rally by the Patriots carried them to a draw at five in the nightcap.
Trailing Edgerton 5-1 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning in a scheduled six-inning game, H-BC-E erupted for four runs to knot the score at five. The game was declared over due to darkness when neither team could produce a run in the seventh inning.
Van Maanen, David Top and Matt Buck slapped consecutive singles to load the bases in the bottom of the sixth. After two outs were recorded, Tyson Metzger singled home two runs, Kevin Van Batavia singled home another and Paul Jess received credit for an RBI with a fielder's choice.
Jess gave the Patriots a 1-0 lead with a two-out, one-run single in the bottom of the second, but Edgerton moved in front 5-1 by scoring once in the third and twice in the fifth and sixth frames.
Top tossed all seven innings for H-BC-E. He yielded seven hits and two walks while striking out five batters. Buck and Van Batavia led the Patriots offensively with three and two hits respectively.
The 1-0-1 Patriots play a road double-header against Sioux Valley-Round Lake-Brewster tomorrow before hosting Adrian and Murray County Central Monday and Tuesday respectively.