Skyline baseball pounds way to victory

The defending class 4A state champion Skyline Eagles (1-0) were hitting on all cylinders Friday afternoon in their season opener at Woods Cross (0-2). The Eagles ended the game early after 5 full innings due to the mercy rule as they beat the Wildcats 16-3.

Every player in the starting lineup for the Eagles had at least one RBI. Five players had two RBI’s as the Eagles pounded their way to victory early and often.

“That’s a good quality team in Woods Cross, but things kind of bounced our way and it was our day. We capitalized on some errors and walks early to put the game away early,” said Skyline coach Erik Hansen.

The Eagles surprisingly had only nine total hits, but it was the Wildcats defensive woes that helped out the Skyline attack.

The Wildcats committed seven errors on the afternoon which aided the Eagles run production.

In the 2nd inning, the Wildcats had three errors that led to four Skyline runs and 5-1 lead.

The real excitement started in the top of the 4th when the Eagles went all out as it batted around in the inning scoring eight runs to go up 13-2. The contagious hit parade began when right fielder Coleman Gerdes knocked in Jake Vanamen to go up 6-2. From there the Wildcats allowed six more hits, a walk, and an error with seven consecutive runners scoring after the five spot in the batting order. The Wildcats had three errors in the inning to help the offensive explosion by the Eagles.

A small bright spot on the day for Woods Cross was its starting pitcher Shaden Fisher who went 3 1/3 innings striking out seven with one walk and three earned runs on six hits. Fisher battled his way to the 4th but too many errors by the defense led to his early exit.

“We knew their pitcher (Fisher) was at a pitch count of about 70 and we wanted to be patient and try to get him out, try to get to their bullpen early. We had a few walks, had some big hits in there and just took advantage scoring eight runs,” said Hansen.

Skyline second baseman Abe Yagi came up with the big hit, a two-run double while the game was still close, that initiated the offensive explosion in the 4th.

“It was all about coming out prepared today. They did make a lot of errors, but we executed and that’s why we won that game,” said Yagi after his two-hit, two-RBI day. “I’m happy for my team. We’re the defending state champs, we got to come out and play hard.”