The LH baseball team beat Creekview, 19-9, on Thursday in what was probably one of the wackiest games in school history. The game, which took almost three-and-a-half hours, was much closer than one might expect from seeing the final score.
The Wildcats raced out to an 8-2 lead after two innings, powered by four RBIs from senior Ryan Browder.
The LH bats went cold over the next four innings, while Creekview’s offense was heating up. By the end of the sixth inning, Creekview held a 9-8 lead.
The seventh and final inning is when things got crazy. The Wildcats’ freshman third baseman, Michael Ketchmark, stepped up to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded. With two strikes, Ketchmark roped an RBI single up the middle, tying the score.
"When I went to the plate, I just tried to clear my head and focus on the ball," Ketchmark said. "I felt great after that at-bat."
Senior Judson Luther smacked the game-winning RBI in the next at-bat. From there, the floodgates opened as the Wildcats poured on nine more runs, all with two outs.
Byron Burns and Browder handled the pitching for the Wildcats and were backed by solid defensive play. Cameron Bodell collected five hits.
The win, against the area’s sixth-ranked team, should energize Lake Highlands, which had lost its previous three games – two of them by one run. The players radiated excitement as they walked from the field to the bus, each of them more enthusiastic than the next.
The Wildcats’ next game is Tuesday at home against Molina (JV 4:30, varsity at 7 p.m.).
