Less than 24-hours after being on the wrong end of a last inning loss, the Lone Tree baseball team took advantage of their second chance, beating Hillcrest Academy 4-3 in Kalona Friday. Lone Tree dropped a Thursday contest to Highland 5-4 after taking a 4-1 lead into the bottom of the final inning, Friday they had a 4-2 lead while needing just three outs and were able to close the door.

Pitching and defense dominated the first six innings of the night with Lone Tree starter Cade Patterson and Raven starter Josiah Beachy allowing a combined four runs on six hits to that point. The Lions broke through with a power play in the third as Adam Knock blasted a solo homer to the short porch in right to make it 1-0. Lone Tree used the same formula in the fifth, this time with Patterson at the plate, to go up 2-0. Things stayed that way until the home half of the fifth when Grant Bender delivered a two-out, two-RBI hit for Hillcrest, driving in Phoenix Anderson and Luke Schrock to tie the game at two. Things stayed there until the seventh when Lone Tree capitalized on five walks issued by Raven pitching to push across a pair of runs. In the bottom half, Lion reliever Joe Boxwell got a pair of ground outs to start the frame, but the next four would reach for Hillcrest, putting the tying and winning runs in scoring position before Boxwell got a punch out to seal it. After the game, Lion head coach Mike Close talked about what he saw from his team. “I told the guys after the game (closing things out), that was one thing I thought we did a really good job of. It’s easy to get into a situation, knowing you played a tough game last night, and came up with a loss, then you run into a two run tie in one of those innings and think ‘here we go again’. We stayed the course, we worked through the game. Good things happen when you can do that. I was proud of them. Cade Patterson did a great job tonight locating his fastball and using his curveball. Joe (Boxwell) did a great job. Came in and closed it down for us and that was kind of the plan. Hitting for us so far this season has been a struggle, but I think it’s something that we can get going and it will become contagious. We need to continue to be confident at the plate.”

The Lions had four runs on just two hits, highlighted by the solo shots from Knock and Patterson. Boxwell got the win in relief, getting the final seven outs, scattering three hits, one run and striking out three. The big number for Hillcrest along with their three runs on seven hits, was stranding 12 runners on base. Luke Schrock was three for four at the plate with a run scored. Grant Bender was two for three with a pair of RBI and a run. Lone Tree is now 2-1 on the year as Hillcrest falls to 0-2.