HUBBARD HANDLES THE PANTHERS

HUBBARD, Ohio –

Two innings into the game the Hubbard Eagles(8-10) were trailing the visiting Bristol Panthers (4-5) 4-1. Mistakes and walks had dug the hole the Eagles currently found themselves in. With a lot of game left, the feeling was in the air that the Hubbard sticks would come alive, and boy did they ever to start their bottom half of the third.

Andrew Frank kicked off the Dirty Birds half inning with a shot into the right field gap. Rounding second and heading to third it was apparent that both player and coach had no intentions on stopping, sending Frank home for a standup inside the park homerun.

Four straight balls to Andrew Kali gave the freshman a free pass then a double off the bat of Evan Jarvis accompanied by Jake Hettrick wearing one off the hip loaded the bases for the Eagles with none away.

Smelling blood in the water, Hayden Fox crushed one to left center field that would roll under the fence for a ground rule double, robbing the senior catcher of a possible 3 RBI triple.

Hubbard wouldn’t stop their scoring there. Aground out by Joe Langley did the job plating one and giving Hubbard their first lead, then Albert Gerlick would triple off the right field wall to bring across Fox and expand their lead to 2.

The bats would go dormant until the Eagles would emerge with victory on their mind in the bottom of the 5th. Starting the inning with back-to-back walks, Hubbard was again in striking position with one of their best hitters at the plate. Already with one triple to his name, Gerlick would strike again with his second triple of the game, bringing across both runners to score.

Doubles off the bats of Andrew Frank and Evan Jarvis would score the Eagles 11th and 12th runs of the game and left them just 2 away from a whitewash. With a pleather of quality swings put on the ball this season, sophomore Jake Hettrick headed to the plate just a long ball away from ending this one early.

Crushing one down the left field line foul on the first pitch of the at bat, it became clear what Hettrick was trying to do and on the second pitch he delivered. Hettrick obliterated one over the left field fence, walking this one off in the fifth inning giving the Dirty Birds the win, 14-4.

TOP PERFORMERS:

HUBBARD

Albert Gerlick – 3-for-3, 2 triples, 3 RBIs, 1 run scored

Andrew Frank – 2-for-4, 1 double, 1 inside-the-park HR, 3 RBIs, 2 runs scored

Evan Jarvis – 2-for-3, 2 doubles, 1 RBI, 2 runs scored

Jake Hettrick – 1-for-2, 1 HR, 3 RBIs, 2 runs scored

*Contributed By YSN’s Jamie Thomson