LHHS sports writing intern Tyler Terrell contributed this report.
The Lake Highlands baseball season came to an end Saturday afternoon after a 5-1 loss to Belton at home in the second game of their regional quarterfinals matchup. In sweeping the Wildcats, the Tigers only gave up a combined six hits and two runs over the course of the two-game series.
Judson Luther was on the mound for the Wildcats and gave up eight hits, with most of the damage coming near the end of the game.
LH was held hitless through the first four innings, and only had one base runner during that span.
Belton struck first with an RBI double from Shane Hoelscher in the third inning. Hoelscher will play baseball at Rice University next year.
The Wildcats started off the fifth inning with back-to-back singles from Taylor Stell and Cameron Bodell. After Judson Luther bunted the runners over, Ryan Browder knocked in Stell with a sacrifice fly in shallow left field.
Belton broke the 1-1 tie in the top of the sixth inning when Hoelscher led off the inning with a solo home run.
The Tigers put the game out of reach in the seventh inning by adding three runs. After Tyler Vail led off the inning by getting hit by a pitch, Tanner Gandy reached base on an error. Drew Delgado, Colbi Fuentes, and Hoelscher smacked back-to-back-to-back RBI singles, sealing LH’s fate.
Lake Highlands had a great season, advancing farther in the playoffs than any of the other 9-5A schools, after going on a run just to make it to the postseason.
