Holden Baseball Team Secures District Title
Eagles Win District Title… The Holden baseball team won the Class 3, District 13 Tournament title by defeating Windsor in the final score of 2-1 in the district first-place game Wednesday, May 21. The Eagles baseball team is pictured with its district first-place plaque after the game, front row, left to right, Hunter Carpenter, Garrett Stoyko, Tyler Barker, Ryan Hough, Trace Angell, Skyler Willis, Cohen Drake, Chasen Hall, Drake Gard, Blake Naumann, Wes Brown, and head coach Jeff Smith; back row, Trent Eissler, Brody Graves, Jordan Andes, Lane Spoor-Wright, Tucker Kauffman, Vance Davis, Justin Brown, Destry Powell, Von Wehmeyer, Kale Tryon, and assistant coaches Trent Pritchard and Nathan Martin. Photo by Steve Edwards
The Holden baseball team used solid pitching, productive late-inning plate appearances, and a diving defensive play to win the Class 3, District 13 Tournament championship game over Windsor by the final score of 2-1 Wednesday, May 21 at Cole Camp High School.
The No. 2 seed Eagles came back from an early 1-0 deficit held by the top-seeded Greyhounds with Holden plating one run in the top of the sixth inning and one run in the top of the seventh as Eagle starting pitcher Wes Brown held Windsor to one run and two hits in a complete game performance.
“I mean, obviously we wanted him to be able to go as far as he could go,” said Holden baseball coach Jeff Smith in regard to Brown. “We were hoping he would be able to pitch all seven, and it turns out he got there barely. When he’s on the mound you know as a team that all you’ve got to do is put up two or three runs, and you’re usually going to be in pretty good shape. We kind of knew that going in. We knew it was going to be probably a low-scoring game there.”
Windsor’s lone run of the game was produced in the first inning when Greyhound starting pitcher Reece Heany walked with two outs, and right fielder Carter Miller hit a triple to score Heany.
Brown recorded a strikeout to open the inning, and Eagle senior left fielder Ryan Hough caught a fly ball to deep left-center on the run before the Greyhounds found the scoreboard.
“They scored one in the first and kind of raised our eyebrows a little bit, but we knew Wes was going to settle in and do what he normally does,” said coach Smith. “I mean, that was only the third earned run he’s given up all year. We knew they weren’t going to score very many. All we had to do was put together a few good at-bats in a row and find a way to put a couple runs across. Finally, we waited a little long, but we did.”
Following Heany’s triple, Brown recorded a strikeout to end the first inning.
Brown’s efficiency on the mound was aided by the starting pitcher catching a liner back to the mound for an out in the second inning, and Brown throwing to first baseman Trace Angell for a pickoff play in the fourth inning. Brown tallied five strikeouts in the second, third, and fourth innings combined.
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