Highland Park’s baseball team is bound for the area round.
The Scots survived a hard-fought series in the bi-district round of the Class 5A Division 1 playoffs, taking 2-of-3 games from Frisco Lebanon Trail, including a 9-1 victory in a decisive Game 3 Saturday.
With the win, HP advances to the area round where it will square off against Melissa in a best-of-3 series. Game 1 is slated for 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Melissa with Game 2 returning to HP at the same time Friday. Game 3, if necessary, will take place at noon Saturday at Trinity Christian Academy.
HP kicked off the opening round with an 8-1 win behind a dominant start from Henry Gahagan, who fired a complete game surrendering just one run while racking up 13 strikeouts.
“He had a little slow start, but after he settled in, he was pretty much unhittable,” said Travis Yoder, HP head coach. “Offensively, we did a great job of being patient and being able to manufacture a few runs here or there.”
Adam Richey and Isaac Hutchinson powered the attack with three hits apiece, while Cole Flashnick had a two-run single, Leif Richey had a hit and two walks and James Siegler had three RBIs.
The roles reversed in Game 2, however, as the Scots failed to score a run for the first time all season in a 3-0 loss.
“Their pitcher threw really well and did a great job,” Yoder said. “We had 10 hard-hit balls and had six liners, we just hit the ball right to them. Isaac did a great job pitching for us to keep us in there, we just couldn’t get anything going.”
Fortunately, the HP offense was back on track Saturday, including two doubles from Siegler and run-scoring hits off the bats of Charlie Flint and Flashnick.
That was more than enough support for winning pitcher Tripp Mattison.
“He was really attacking the zone and we played great defense behind him,” Yoder said. “When we play like that, we’re a tough team to beat.”
Yoder and HP will be hoping for more of the season in the second round against Melissa.
“They’re a tough team,” he said. “They have some strong hitters and some good arms. You usually face a tough opponent in the second round, but this year that’s exceedingly the case.”
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