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Jeff Yoder

Your Prep Sports

It didn't seem likely that the bottom of the sixth inning would produce the tying run for City High on Friday. 

DJ Heck faced an 0-2 count with two outs and the bases empty in a one-run game. 

With an infield single, he became the first of seven straight Little Hawks to reach base in a six-run inning, which gave City High a 14-9 win over Burlington in a 4A substate quarterfinal. 

A game in which the Little Hawks once trailed 9-4 after surrendering five runs in the fourth inning. 

“You kind of know, you're chipping away, you're having at bats and I thought that our at bats generally were pretty good,” City High coach Brian Mitchell said.  

“You hope that things don't dry up on you. We got into the sixth, I think we had two outs… All of a sudden you put a string of hits together and a big hit and then, bam! It's unbelievable how the game works.”

Sam Lewers had a three-run double to give the Little Hawks their first lead of the ball game. 

“It felt great,” he said. 

“I already had two good hits to right, and I was just trying to do that same thing again, and that's what happened.”

The Little Hawks didn't hit the ball out of the infield while loading the bases for Lewers' clutch hit. 

“We are not the most unbelieveable, prettiest team, explosive team to watch, but we really run well, we really know how to fight in the batter's box and we really know how to put balls in play,” Mitchell said. 

“And that was the message going into tonight. You put balls in play, odds are they may make mistakes.”

It played out as planned, with the Grayhounds committing seven errors to aid the Little Hawk comeback. 

City High faced a 4-0 deficit after one and a half innings, but quickly came back with doubles from Cade Hanrahan and Lewers and a two-RBI single from Garrett Bormann.

Hanrahan finished 3-4 at the plate. Lewers was 3-4 with four RBI and Gabe Mitchell went 2-4 with three RBI.

Reese Hayden came on in relief for City High with the bases loaded in the fourth. He was one strike away from escaping the jam when he hit a batter and then gave up a bases-clearing double. 

He then allowed just one baserunner to reach over the next three shutout innings

“He just kept battling and plugging away and really filling up the zone and staying really composed,” Mitchell said. 

“We just got really good pitching from him throughout.”

Burlington finishes the season with a 16-19 record, while the Little Hawks (25-15) advance to face Pleasant Valley in a substate semifinal on Monday, July 22. 

Burlington     310  500  0  –   9    7   7

City High        040  316  x  –  14  15  2

W – Reese Hayden    L – Mason Fort

2B – ICH: Sam Lewers (2), Cade Hanrahan. BUR: Tyson Powers, Brock Dengler

3B – ICH: Garrett Bormann

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