West Henderson celebrates as Dillon Baker crosses the plate after hitting a home run against Polk County on Tuesday. (Photo by Mike Dirks) That's Matt in the middle! See more of Mike's photos by clicking here!
By Dean Hensley
Times-News Staff Writer
Published: Wednesday, March 11, 2009 at 4:30 a.m.
COLUMBUS — West Henderson’s baseball team once again has plenty of firepower, and that’s exactly what Polk County coach Ty Stott wanted his team to see early in the season.
The Falcons exploded for five home runs Tuesday night en route to a 17-6, six-inning mercy-rule win at Polk. In three games so far this season, seven different West batters have hit homers.
Leading the way Tuesday was cleanup hitter Forrest Koontz, who went 4-for-4 with a home run, a double and two RBIs.
“We knew West was going to be good. They just have too many hitters,” Stott said. “This is going to really help us down the road, facing tough non-conference teams like this. I know it’s going to help us. It’s got to help us.”
Tyler Isgett started the home run derby with a two-run shot off Polk starter Danny Fraga in the top of the third that made it 7-0. In the next inning, Tyler Austin ripped a two-run shot over the center-field fence and two batters later, Dillon Baker repeated Austin’s blast with another two-run shot. That ended the evening for Fraga, who went 2 1/3 innings and gave up nine runs, four earned, off seven hits with two walks and a strikeout.
“Offensively, you’ve got to be happy when you put 17 runs on the board. So, I was happy with that. But defensively, we made too many mistakes, and I think we still have a long way to go from where we want to be,” Falcon coach Jim Hyatt said after his team improved to 3-0.
Stott went with Brandon Jolley to start off the top of the fourth, and the homers continued. Koontz hit a solo shot to center, and then things got a little testy when Jolley plunked Austin. But order was restored, and Jolley didn’t hit another batter. Taylor Reeves then ripped a two-run homer, and Matt Roberts followed with an RBI double to make it 13-0 after 3 1/2 innings.
But the Wolverines (2-1) didn’t quit, scoring two runs off two West errors in the bottom of the fourth. Polk then held West scoreless in the top of the fifth and kept the game going with three runs in the bottom half of the inning that included a two-run double from J.P. Ruth.
The Falcons answered with four runs in the top of the sixth to push the lead back up to more than 10 runs and end it.
“We should’ve ended it after five, but those back-to-back errors killed us. I was happy to see us respond with four more runs to finish it off,” Hyatt said.
Both teams return to action Friday. West is at home against Hendersonville, and Polk is on the road at Brevard.
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