Published: April 30, 2008 03:50 pm            

Price hits walk-off homer to beat HSE 13-11

Down 10-11 with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Zionsville junior Ryan Price connected for his first base hit of the game — a three-run walk-off home run to beat Hamilton Southeastern 13-11, Friday, April 25.

“I just told myself to go up there and get a good pitch, have fun, and just hit it hard,” Price said.

Price had struggled leading up to the game-winning longball, going 0-for-3 with a walk, but certainly made up for it in his final at-bat.

“I told (Price) that there’s not a person on this field I’d rather have up to bat, and he got it done,” Zionsville Head Coach Adam Metzler said. “That was a big confidence-builder for him. He just kept fighting.”

His was not the only hot bat on the extremely windy evening, as five Eagles and five Royals had multi-hit games, including four homers.

Zionsville senior first baseman Matt Goode hit a solo home run in the fifth inning to cut the HSE lead to 9-8, and went 2-for-4 on the night with three RBIs. Senior catcher Michael Tucker did not add to his team-leading home run total of four, but smacked three doubles into the gaps, going 3-for-4 with one run and one RBI.

Freshman shortstop Max Kuhn went 2-for-4 with three runs, sophomore Daniel Wilson went 2-for-4 with a double, and senior Louis Valle batted 2-for-4 with two doubles and two runs. Senior Keith Rogers went 1-for-4 with two RBIs. The Eagles came into the game 1-5 in conference play, and have run into some misfortune at the plate in recent weeks. They were happy to regain confidence on the offensive end.

“We’re coming out here swinging, and trying to hit the ball hard on the ground — we keep doing the same things we’re doing every single day,” Metzler said. “They pay off some days, and some days they don’t. It’s the game of baseball, and our guys are trying to do the best things we can do. Obviously with a day like today with the wind up in the air, it helped.”

For Hamilton Southeastern, Austin Rieke batted 3-for-5 with a homer, and Mike Lymberopolous went 3-for-4 with a homer and three RBIs. Matt Ripp finished 3-for-4 with two runs, Tyler Underwood went 2-for-3, and Zach Starr went 2-for-3 with a double and a triple.

The teams combined for a total of 28 base hits.

Needless to say, it was not a fun day for the pitchers, and it got ugly fast. The first five HSE batters of the game notched base hits against Zionsville freshman Alex Westrick. The Royals scored five runs in the opening frame, but Metzler stuck with the young left-hander, and he escaped from the jam to improve throughout his outing.

The tough start did not discourage the Eagles at the plate, scoring five runs on five-straight hits of their own, sending HSE starter Jeff Green to the bench after pitching just 1/3 of an inning.

The Royals added two more runs in the second, pushing the score to 7-5, but a double play from Kuhn to Goode finished the inning. The Eagles tacked on two runs to tie the game in the third, but Rieke’s homer and a Lymberopolous RBI single in the fourth gave HSE the 9-7 advantage.

Kuhn came on to pitch in the fifth, and suddenly made it look easy from the mound, striking out the HSE side in order to preserve the game for his team. He added a fourth strikeout in the sixth, but a Lymberopolous home run pushed the score to 11-8.

Zionsville responded in the bottom of the sixth, as Kuhn reached base on a walk, and Tucker hit his third double of the game to bring the freshman home.

After giving up a single to start the seventh, Kuhn forced a Royal ground out that nearly became a double play. It was no matter, as he got Rieke to strike out looking on the next at bat, and Tucker fired the ball down to first to double off the runner, ending the inning.

“When (Kuhn) got in there, we were down, and I basically said ‘hey, keep us in it,’ and he did that,” Metzler said.

The Eagles were fired up, as Valle led off the bottom of the seventh with a double down the left field line, and Goode hit grounder to bring him home for a 10-11 score. Sophomore Stephen Snow the got a pinch-hit walk, but sophomore Leo Charles lined out to left field for the second out. Kuhn then kept the Eagles alive with a single up the middle.

Price then stepped to the plate, patiently awaiting a fastball grooved by HSE’s Christian Leffer. The long drive sailed over the center field fence, causing an eruption in the Zionsville dugout.

“I was just being patient and got a fastball — it was up in the zone, and I just hit it,” Price said.

        

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