There were technical difficulties Friday afternoon at the Hidden Valley baseball field.
The National Anthem stopped in mid-song and the left field scoreboard was blank throughout the game.
One thing that wasn’t on the blink was the Hidden Valley pitching staff.
Riding five strong innings by Titan starter Sean O’Connell and two more by reliever Jack Henry, Hidden Valley blanked the visitors from PH 6-0 to capture their third straight win of the season. Patrick Henry fell to 1-4.
“It was a good effort for the third game of the season,” Hidden Valley head coach Jason Taylor noted. “Our pitchers were throwing strikes and the defense was solid. Plus, this may be the most powerful team we’ve had here. I’ve got seven guys who can hit it out.”
One of those clearly is Hayes Nelson. After two Titans reached base in the Hidden Valley fourth, and the Titans nursing a 3-0 lead, Nelson launched a 3-run homer well out of Titan Field to give Hidden Valley all the cushion it needed.
The game was a pithing duel between O’Connell and PH starter Evan Deyerle through the early innings. Hidden Valley scored its first two runs in the bottom of the third without a hit after a walk, two PH errors and a sacrifice fly. Moments later Titan Ben Schmidt singled for the first Hidden Valley hit of the game and Nate Atkins followed with a triple off the center field fence to put the Titans up 3-0.
PH head coach Aaron Haigler reflected on handing Hidden Valley their early lead. “Throw and catch has been our Achilles’ heel all year. You practice it and do all the drills, but we need to transfer the execution to games. My main concern is everyone having a sense of enthusiasm. There were some lips hanging after those first runs. It will all come around.”
The Hidden Valley pitching corps was in midseason form. O’Connell held PH hitless until two outs in the fifth, handing the pitching duties over to Henry to begin the sixth due to pitch-count limitations.
“I felt good with my pitches,” O’Connell noted. “I couldn’t consistently find the zone last year. This was my first start this year so I feel good about it.”
As for Nelson, a multi-homer hitter in 2013, the first Hidden Valley blast of the year couldn’t have come at a better time.
“I was sitting on a fast ball and it came in high and down the middle,” Nelson said. “Right in my wheelhouse.”
Bill Turner
