Union County’s Joey Weller
LIBERTY, Ind. – Thursday’s match-up between the Hagerstown and Union County baseball teams was over and both head coaches were already looking ahead.
“Anytime, Hagerstown and Union County get together you are going to see exactly what you saw,” Union County Head Coach Jeff Mathews said after his Patriots posted a 5-3 Tri-Eastern Conference victory.
“It gets pretty heated,” Mathews continued. “As big as this one is now, a month from now they ought to double the price of the tickets.”
The Patriots are 10-2 overall and the last unbeaten squad in the TEC at 4-0. The Tigers are now 8-2, 3-1.
“We knew coming down here to Union County, it’s always going to be a battle,” Hagerstown Head Coach Brad Catey said. “They did the things they needed to do to win.”
“We’ll bounce back and we’ll see them again,” Catey added. “There’s a lot of baseball to be played in the conference.”
Both teams have five games remaining in the league before they compete for the Class 2A sectional title at Centerville next month.
“We’ve just got to keep working every day and get a little better and be ready the next time we see them,” Catey said.
With the victory, the Patriots ended Hagerstown’s 25-game winning streak in conference contests dating back to the 2014 season.
“It speaks to what they have done,” Mathews said of the Tigers success.
On Thursday, Mathews saw areas for improvement.
“We can play better,” he said. “We had some base running mistakes.”
Something that had Mathews smiling was his two pitchers.
Joey Weller worked the first five innings to get the win. He gave up three runs, while scattering 11 hits with four strikeouts.
“Joey wasn’t as sharp as Joey can be, but he’s smart,” Mathews said. “He’s come a long way. He’s become a pitcher.”
Mason Miller blanked the Tigers over the final two frames to earn a save. He gave up two hits and fanned a pair.
“He’s just a game-changer,” Mathews said. “It’s a very comforting thing to have Mason Miller on the mound in a save situation because he’s got ice water in his veins. Nothing gets to him.”
The Tigers got on the scoreboard in the second inning on a run-scoring single by Trent Weiss.
In bottom of the second, Cameron Donovan’s homer to left tied the contest at 1-1.
Hagerstown then went in front 3-1 in the third on a run-scoring triple by Drew Pyle and Cody Swimm picked up the other RBI on an error.
The Patriots were able to answer in their half of the third. Miller had a sacrifice fly and Donovan knocked his second run of the contest with a single.
Leighton Schulte’s RBI double in the fourth put the Patriots on top 4-3. Later in the inning, Nate Webb produced the final run with a single.
Donovan led the Patriots with two hits, while Miller, Schulte, Preston Scott, Blake Fields and Zander Kottka also had hits.
For the Tigers, Pyle, Swimm, Camden Rhoades and Mason Hicks all had two hits. Weiss, Owen Golliher, Cameron Purtha, Clay Cochran and Noah Dale each had hits.
Pyle worked three innings on the mound for the Tigers, while Derek Davis and Swimm finished up.
The Patriots entertain Batesville on Friday, while the Tigers are at Blackford on Saturday.