Raven fans might have experienced more anxiety than they bargained for last night, but in the end it was the Hillcrest Academy baseball team that downed North Cedar 9-7 in a class 1A district semifinal in Riverside.

You could not have written a better script in the first inning for the maroon and black after Noah Miller mowed down the first three batters he faced and the Ravens putting up a six spot in the bottom half. Hillcrest received RBI knocks from Luke Schrock, Seth Ours, and Grant Bender with 10 batters coming to the plate. They tacked on one more in the third when the Knights (2-20) started to chip away. They got on the board with one in the fourth, two in the fifth, and four in the sixth including a double by Bill Condon to score the tying run. A 7-0 lead was vanished and the Knights notched it up at 7-all. Folding was not an option for Hillcrest, as they answered right back in the bottom half when Miller led off with a double and was eventually plated on a two-out, two-RBI single off the bat of Jace Rempel that proved to be the game winner. Miller led a nine-hit offense going 3-for-4 with one RBI while Rempel, Luke Schrock, and Seth Ours each brought in two. Miller tossed the first 4 1/3 frames on the hill giving up two runs (one earned), three hits, four walks and striking out 10 batters. 

The junior assessed his outing in the postgame. “It was good to pound the zone early and my fastball was blowing by them in the first couple innings. Once they started fouling it off that is when I mixed in my curveball and changeup. The curve was the key pitch that got me a few strikeouts.” Luke Schrock was credited with the win recording the final eight outs surrendering five runs (two earned) on six knocks. 

The Ravens improve to 14-9 and advance to their fourth district championship game in the last five years. They travel to Lisbon on Saturday in a game that can be heard on KCII. The Lions (22-13) defeated Lone Tree last night by a 7-1 score.