Several years ago Hidden Valley ace pitcher Mikey O’Brien was drafted right out high school by the New York Yankees.
Monday evening, Hidden Valley got hold of a Yankey they’d just as soon not heard of.
Riding the arm of their ace hurler, Eric Yankey, Turner Ashby scored four runs in each of the first two innings to easily dispatch Hidden Valley 9-0 in a Group 3A West first round regional game at Titan Field.
Yankey, who improved to 10-1 with the complete game 4-hitter, was in command from the outset. He struck out 11 Hidden Valley batters.
“Their pitcher was good,” Hidden Valley head coach Jason Taylor noted afterward. “He’s the best pitcher we’ve faced this year. He’s had over 140 strikeouts, and he’s got a great curve and fastball. You can’t sit on his fastball because he’ll bring the curve and throw it deep in the count.”
The game was billed as a stellar matchup between Yankey and Hidden Valley’s Luke Marston, a pair of left-handers who have been the dominate aces for both teams throughout the season.
But, Marston ran into trouble in the top-of-the first when a walk, hit batsman and an error on a potential double-play grounder set the stage for a Turner Ashby rally. A 2-run single by Trent Abernathy and 2-RBI double off the left field fence by Brenan Hanifee followed, putting the Knights up 4-0.
The Knights added four more in the second when they loaded the bases with none out and followed with a 2-run single to make it 6-0. Lucas Clark’s high chopper scored the seventh run, ending the day for Marston and bringing Harry Preas to the hill for the Titans.
Trent Abernathy then slapped a RBI single to left to give the Knights the 8-0 advantage. Turner Ashby would add their ninth run in the third on a sacrifice fly, and it was all over but the shouting.
“You can’t give a team like Turner Ashby runs,” Taylor added. “We were in position to get out of the first inning with no runs.They scored nine runs and seven were unearned- that’s a killer.”
The big lead put Yankey on cruise control.
“I got dialed in,” Yankey noted. “Once we got the lead it was very relaxing for me.”
“Huge, ” Turner Ashby coach Luke Foss said of the quick lead. ” We established ourselves. We were able to execute our game plan, attack and run the bases hard.”
Foss was filling in for Turner Ashby head coach Sean Hanifee, who had been ejected in the Knights conference championship loss to Western Albemarle last week and was ineligible for this game.
The Knights pounded out 13 hits against the Titan pitching, with Abernathy and Jordan Elyard each accounting for 3 RBIs.
Hidden Valley’s best scoring opportunity came in the fourth when Ben Schmidt’s walk, Nate Atkins’ double over the right fielder’s head and a walk to Hunter Boone loaded the bases. But, Yankey got out of the jam on a grounder to short.
The loss ended the season for the Titans.
“This was our only home loss this year,” Taylor noted. “We kept fighting all year. This isn’t the most talented team I’ve had, but I’ve never had a team with bigger hearts. The future looks good.”
– Bill Turner
