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Hopkins rallies past Eastview

By Amelia Rayno, Star Tribune, 04/15/11, 8:08AM CDT

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Royals score five runs in final inning to beat Eastview 8-7


Eastview's Evan DeCovich flipped his bat after striking out in the third inning. Kyndell Harkness, Star Tribune

Most baseball teams facing a four-run hole heading into their final at-bats would probably say they felt less than relaxed, but such is not the case for the self-proclaimed super-loose Hopkins squad.

And that characteristic, the Royals said, is one of the major reasons they were able to turn the deficit on its head, scoring five runs in the bottom of the seventh inning for a 8-7 walk-off victory over Eastview on Thursday to add to their bag of tricks in their early undefeated season.

“We’re kind of a laid-back team,” said third baseman Bill Gregg, who had three hits, including two doubles. “I don’t know if you can tell.”

Hopkins came to bat for its last shot down 7-3 — Eastview added two runs to its lead in the top half of the inning — and with the bottom of the order coming up. But the No. 8 and 9 hitters both walked, and leadoff hitter Tanner Holmquist lined a single to center to load the bases.

“Then I knew we had a chance,” Hopkins coach Neil Lerner said.

His hitters made the most of it. Kyle Dalton reached on a drive to left, and Gregg followed with a double. Then, after the next batters struck out and reached on an error, the guys on the bases met a shade of good luck with aggressive baserunning, scoring the final two runs on passed balls.

“We got one hit and suddenly, you couldn’t stop us,” Gregg said. “We all felt the energy was high, everyone was patting each other on the back.”

It was a far cry from earlier in the game, when the Royals struggled to get anything off Eastview pitcher Adam Moorse, who struck out eight in five-plus innings, including five in the first two.

Nonetheless, when the Royals came up in the seventh, they breathed nothing but confidence.

“For some reason, I just had a feeling when we came up … I felt like we had just as good of a chance,” Gregg said.

TOUGH LOSS FOR LIGHTNING


Ty McDevitt, Eastview

For Eastview, the 8-7 loss to Hopkins on Thursday was a tough one to swallow. One night earlier, the Lightning had led Prior Lake 3-1 going into the bottom of the sixth, but watched as the home team rallied for three runs in the final two innings to hand the squad their first loss of the season.

Then, with that memory fresh on their brains, Eastview—holding a seemingly air-tight 7-3 lead against Hopkins in the middle of the seventh—allowed another walk-off, with relief pitching allowing five runs in the final inning.

It’s a trend coach Tom Strey called concerning—and a sticking reminder of the some of the early struggles the Lightning have found in the field (they committed six errors Thursday).

“We’re just kind of running into some tough luck here,” he said. “We need to learn how to close out games because we haven’t done that.”

Nonetheless, Strey was quick to add that he believes Eastview has a good team with many quality parts--one of which was on display for the first five innings of the Hopkins loss.

Junior pitcher Adam Moorse, who was used mainly in middle relief for the Lightning last year, started for the second time Thursday, and for the most part, baffled hitters right and left. He struck out five in the first two innings and eight overall. Moorse, who also stuck out eight in his first appearance of the season, throws a good curveball to go along with a fastball that reaches approximately 83-84 mph.

“He’s a pretty good pitcher,” Hopkins' Billy Gregg said, shaking his head. “He throws for some good velocity and he’s got long arms, so it kind of looks like it’s not in the air for very long.”

Moorse certainly did his part, but after running into some deep counts, was taken out in the sixth, which left the game in the hands of a struggling bullpen.

Starting pitching was something Strey recognized as a strength at the beginning of the season, particularly with ace (and Gophers recruit) Ty McDevitt anchoring their rotation. However, McDevitt hurt his throwing hand sliding into a base in the Eagan game on Monday, and while he had a solid start in the following game, at Prior Lake, he experienced a lot of pain. Strey said the right-hander will probably undergo x-rays in the next couple days to determine if anything is broken.

“He battled through it,” Strey said. “We’re all just hoping he’s OK.”
 

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