The Hinckley Knights hosted Mora on Friday night.
The Knights got off to a good start against Mora. Ben Sickler took the mound to start the game and was ahead of the Blue Devil hitters. Hinckley got on the board first in the 2nd inning, thanks to a Shawn Ausmus home run, they would add two more runs before the inning ended. The next few innings the pitchers and defensive play kept both teams off the board and the game seemed to come to a halt, that was until the 5th inning. The Blue Devils scored three runs on two RBI's from Mike Mckee and Logan Graves, shrinking their deficit to one. The Knights bats went cold for a few innings but in the 7th they began to warm up again. They scored three more runs to add onto their lead extending it to 4. Hinckley seemed to have Mora's number late in the game, but in the 8th the Blue Devils knew they wouldn't have many opportunities left to get themselves a shot at tying the game or take the lead. In the 8th Mora was able to grab one more run, but that was all they could get out of the Knights defense. Hinckley closed out the game with the win 7-4. With the win they would play on Sunday, for a chance to get themselves to the championship game.
Pitching:
Ben Sickler- 7 innings, 10 hits allowed, 4 runs, 1 HBP, 1 walk, 5 SO's
Isaiah Brennan- 2 innings, 1 HBP, 1 walk, 4 SO's
On Sunday they played against Isanti. Two teams who were near or at the top in a plethora of categories. Not only that, they had met not long before near the end of the regular season. The Redbirds scored the first runs of the game in the 4th inning posting three runs to take the lead. The Knights were not to be outdone, as they were able to score 2 runs in the 5th and added another in the 6th to tie the game at 3. Both teams chose to use multiple pitchers to try and gain an advantage, and the teams could not find any more runs till late in the game. The game went into the final inning still tied, the Knights were unable to find any runs and turned their focus to the defensive side. Hinckley would need to hold Isanti off the board and also grab three more outs to give themselves a chance. Unfortunately, the Redbirds scored the game winning run, the loss sends Hinckley to the elimination bracket. They'll need to win three games in a row to get themselves back to the state tournament.
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