Hillcrest wins North StateSouthern Sports & Travel, By Darron Thomas
The Hillcrest Cougars captured the North State AA Championship last night with an 8-0 win over Simpson in Mendenhall. Senior Austin Hartzog pitched a two hit complete game and struck out eight to improve to 9-1 as Hillcrest swept their second consecutive series to advance to next week’s state championship series against top ranked Brookhaven.
Hillcrest got out to an early 2-0 lead in the 1st inning. Josh Rogers scored from second base on a Simpson throwing error off a Justin Smith grounder with one out. Smith would advance to 3rd on a Caleb Baucum single to left field and then scored on a passed ball at the plate to give Hillcrest a 2-0 advantage.
Hillcrest got out to an early 2-0 lead in the 1st inning. Josh Rogers scored from second base on a Simpson throwing error off a Justin Smith grounder with one out. Smith would advance to 3rd on a Caleb Baucum single to left field and then scored on a passed ball at the plate to give Hillcrest a 2-0 advantage.
(Above) Remarcus Stallings of Hillcrest lays down a bunt attemptHillcrest added another run in their half of the 2nd inning. Remarcus Stallings hit a leadoff single to right field and advanced to 2nd on a sacrifice bunt from Drew Fountain. Josh Rogers hammered an Austin Herrington pitch to center field for a double scoring Stallings to put the Cougars on top 3-0. A controversial call at the plate followed when TJ Knowles singled to center field and sent a hard charging Josh Rogers around 3rd base. On the throw from center field Rogers and Simpson catcher Michael Kennedy collided at the plate and it appeared that Rogers scored the Cougar’s 4th run of the game but Rogers was called out and ejected for lowering his shoulder on the collision. “It was just one of those things,” said Hillcrest head coach Shane Kelly. “He (Rogers) didn’t mean to but the rule is if you drop a shoulder in that situation you are ejected.”
(Above) Hillcrest head coach Shane Kelly argues the Rogers play at the plateHillcrest pitcher Austin Hartzog showed why he is one of the top high school pitchers in the state as the Ole Miss signee only allowed one hit through six innings. “My elbow was a little tight before the game and lately I’ve been a little high with my pitches and I’ve been walking batters,” said Hartzog. “I haven’t been giving up many hits but opposing teams have been scoring runs because of the walks. In the 2nd and 3rd innings I was getting worried because I starting walking some guys but in the 4th inning I found my curve ball and I knew then we were pretty set.”
The second ranked Cougars added two more runs in the 5th inning as TJ Knowles, Justin Smith and Caleb Baucum hit three straight singles to load the bases. Austin Hartzog drew a walk to score Knowles and two batters later a perfectly laid bunt by sophomore Thomas Woodruff scored Smith from 3rd base to increase the margin to 5-0.
With Hartzog retiring his 8th straight Simpson batter to end the 5th inning the Cougars added three more runs in the top half of the 6th. Freshman Lee Ogletree led off the inning with a homerun over the center field wall to put Hillcrest up 6-0. TJ Knowles reached base on an infield error and later scored from 3rd base on another Simpson error. Justin Smith added the 8th and final run when he scored from 3rd base when Simpson catcher Michael Kenney’s attempt to throw out Trent Driver at 2nd base with two out failed.
Hartzog yielded only his second hit of the game in the bottom of the 7th inning on a two out single from Corey Herrington.
Hillcrest pounded out 11 hits with four players contributing with multiple hits. Josh Rogers led the Cougars with a double and a single, Caleb Baucum, TJ Knowles and Justin Smith each had two singles.
Hillcrest improves to 23-9 and will look to win their fourth state championship in five years next week against Brookhaven.
Simpson finished out their season at 17-8.
.
Post game comments:
Hillcrest head coach Shane Kelly
“We hit the ball well today and we capitalized off of their errors. After Josh (Rogers) was thrown out in the 2nd inning we could have tanked it but it says a lot about my team to play through that with one of our better players not playing.”
“Brookhaven is a very good team. We’ve played them three times this season. It’s going to come down to whether our pitching can shut down their hitting and we’re going to have to keep hitting the ball like we’ve been doing.”
“Every opportunity we get next week whether it is a bunt to move a runner over or get that clutch hit we have to give ourselves opportunities and take advantage of them.”
“Brookhaven’s guys are probably one through nine a little better hitting team than we are so we can’t let any opportunities get away from us. We must play solid defense and we’ve done that for the most part this year. That’s what we rely on and if our pitchers can handle their hitters it gives our defense a lot of confidence.”
Hillcrest senior Austin Hartzog
“It feels good to win north state. Coming into it we expected to get to the championship and that’s where we’re at now. Basketball hurt us because we fell short in the playoffs and in football we didn’t do well so as seniors we are trying to leave our mark.”
“It’s going to be real special next week because it will be the last time playing with Josh (Rogers) and Caleb (Baucum). We’ve played together for so many years and knowing this will be the last time and we’re playing for a state championship makes it special.”
Post game comments:
Hillcrest head coach Shane Kelly
“We hit the ball well today and we capitalized off of their errors. After Josh (Rogers) was thrown out in the 2nd inning we could have tanked it but it says a lot about my team to play through that with one of our better players not playing.”
“Brookhaven is a very good team. We’ve played them three times this season. It’s going to come down to whether our pitching can shut down their hitting and we’re going to have to keep hitting the ball like we’ve been doing.”
“Every opportunity we get next week whether it is a bunt to move a runner over or get that clutch hit we have to give ourselves opportunities and take advantage of them.”
“Brookhaven’s guys are probably one through nine a little better hitting team than we are so we can’t let any opportunities get away from us. We must play solid defense and we’ve done that for the most part this year. That’s what we rely on and if our pitchers can handle their hitters it gives our defense a lot of confidence.”
Hillcrest senior Austin Hartzog
“It feels good to win north state. Coming into it we expected to get to the championship and that’s where we’re at now. Basketball hurt us because we fell short in the playoffs and in football we didn’t do well so as seniors we are trying to leave our mark.”
“It’s going to be real special next week because it will be the last time playing with Josh (Rogers) and Caleb (Baucum). We’ve played together for so many years and knowing this will be the last time and we’re playing for a state championship makes it special.”
**Photos from this game can be seen at
