Tigers spoil senior night

Levi Long blasted a grand slam in the fifth inning to lead the Patriots to a 10-run effort.
It wasn’t nearly enough.
Bluffton’s Matt Hilton hit two home runs, including his own grand slam, to power the visiting Tigers to a 19-10 victory Thursday and spoil the Jay County High School baseball team’s senior night celebration.
Nine of those runs came before the Patriots swung a bat, as Bluffton sent 13 batters to the plate in the top of first inning.
“If you had told me beforehand we would get 10 runs tonight, I would have said, ‘OK, we’ll take that,’” said JCHS coach Lea Selvey, whose team lost its fourth in a row despite posting the double-digit run total. “It’s frustrating. I kind of expected us to be like this early, but not now.”
Jay County (8-10, 2-2 Allen County Athletic Conference) was on its heels from the start as the Tigers’ Grant Prible led off the game with a triple to the gap in left-center field.
The next three Bluffton hitters recorded a walk, a double and a single before the Patriots recorded a force out at second base after dropping a pop-up.
Koltan Moore’s ground out back to pitcher Jake Carpenter gave JCHS two outs and a chance to minimize the first-inning damage.
“I thought, ‘Well, if we can keep this at three …’ But, I don’t know, we just couldn’t get anybody out,” said Selvey.
Hilton followed with the first of his two home runs, a two-run line drive to left field, to give his team a 5-0 lead. The visitors then loaded the bases thanks in part to a hit batsman and a walk, scored once on another walk and pushed the lead to nine on Dane Hoffman’s bases-clearing double.
Hoffman had two doubles and four RBIs in the first inning on the way to a 3-for-6 effort in which he drove in five runs, scored once and helped set the stage for Hilton’s grand slam by hustling down the first base line on a dropped third strike in the third inning. Mitchel Drew followed with a single, Mitchell Kuhlenbeck walked and Moore grounded into a fielder’s choice, loading the bases for Hilton.
The No. 7 hitter launched a fly ball to left center that sailed over the fence again, this time about 5 feet left of the scoreboard, for a 14-4 lead. He finished 3-for-5 with two home runs, seven RBIs and two runs, with his courtesy runner adding another run in the fifth inning.
“He was in the four spot for us for a little while then Mitchell (Kuhlenbeck) starting hitting the ball pretty well so we moved him up early in the season,” said Bluffton assistant coach Stacy Herrold, noting that Hilton had struggled at the plate. “From there on out we were just trying to find a place for (Hilton) to actually see fastballs. …
“He put himself in a good position (tonight).”
Prible added four hits, three runs and a stolen base.
The game looked as if it would be over in five innings with Bluffton leading 17-5.
The Tigers (4-11, 2-3 ACAC) got within one out of ending the game early before hitting Andy Kohler with a pitch, allowing a single to Cole Stigleman and walking Levi Stant. That set the stage for Long, who blasted his own grand slam to left field to close the gap to eight runs.
“The time before, he took one looking,” said Selvey, referencing Long’s fourth-inning strikeout. “I challenged him a little bit to just come up swinging. That’s what he’s got to do. He thinks too much. If he just reacts, he’s a real good player.”
But the Patriots never got another runner on base, as reliever Garrett Walborn entered after Long’s bomb and retired seven consecutive batters to close the game and earn the win.
Long finished with two hits, five RBIs and two runs, and Stant added two hits, including a double, two runs and a stolen base. But the strong effort at the plate wasn’t supported in the field as JCHS committed five errors to allow eight unearned runs.
Carpenter took the loss, allowing six runs — five earned — on four hits and a walk in two-thirds of an inning. Bluffton cycled through three JCHS pitchers in the first inning and five in all.