The Hillcrest baseball team came out on the short end of a 1-0 score Tuesday in a Southeast Iowa Superconference contest at Mediapolis. The matchup pitted the reigning division champion Bulldogs against the Ravens, last year’s runners-up. Runs were at a premium with the two teams aces squaring off, Tyler Samuel for Mediapolis and Eli Ours for Hillcrest. The Ravens were able to hold down the Bulldogs with Ours pitching and three standout defensive plays including a 6-4-3 double play in the first and a 7-6-2 relay to cut down a runner at the plate from Aidan Yoder to Noah Miller to London Schrock in the same frame. Hillcrest also got a double play that went 8-3 when centerfielder Kobe Borntrager ran down a ball in right center field and delivered a throw to Drew Blauvelt at first to double off the runner. The game was scoreless going to the bottom of the sixth when MEPO broke through following a Josh Darbyshire lead-off single. He came around to score during the next at bat on a pair of wild pitches.

The Ravens scratched together four hits against Samuel but couldn’t push anything across the plate. Their best scoring chance came in the third with Aidan Yoder and Noah Miller on the corners, but Samuel navigated the jam with a foul out and a strikeout. Samuel recorded the win going all seven innings in the complete game shut out, scattering four hits and striking out nine. Ours took the tough luck loss, surrendering five hits and one unearned run. Hillcrest also committed four errors. The Ravens were led at the plate by Aidan Yoder who was two for two with a pair of base hits. With the win, MEPO stays perfect at 5-0 on the year, the Ravens fall to 1-4 and get set to take on Pekin Thursday in Kalona.