Prep Baseball: Take Two

Harrisburg head baseball coach Jay Thompson made no qualms about one of the achilles heel of his team this year has been the inability to put some runs on the board early against the opposition.

That changed Thursday when the Bulldogs bested Eldorado 8-2 at Jay Thompson Field in the second showdown between the two Saline County rivals.

Bulldog senior Austin Hefner got Harrisburg on the board in the first inning with a two-run shot to left field off Eldorado starter Joe Mayberry.

Harrisburg then responded in the second, much like the did in the first, when Tyler Lightner smashed a lead off home run and the Bulldogs got another run when Noah Vallette doubled to score Presley Gouch.

Harrisburg (13-8) pushed the lead to eight hone they scored three more runs in the fifth as Britton Riden, Lightner and Gouch all had RBI singles.

"We have not been very good this year scoring runs early and today we were able to throw up a lead for our pitcher. That made life a lot easier for him."

Dalton Lambert picked up the win for the Bulldogs as he improved to 2-4 on the year. Lambert went the distance, allowing two runs on two hits, while striking out four and walking three.

"Dalton was able to pitch himself out of trouble," Thompson said. "He got himself in a little bit of trouble here and there, but he was very effective pitching himself out of it."

Eldorado threatened in the top of the second inning after Josh Pilkington had a one-out double and after Lambert hit the next two batters (Trey Vessel and Jacob Traxler), the sophomore worked himself out of a jam by getting Mayberry and Kale Oglesby to strike out.

EHS killed the shutout in the sixth inning when Pilkington scored on a base hit by Jayden Sigler and Stanton Hathaway popped a solo shot in the top of the seventh inning for the other run.

Mayberry took the loss for Eldorado as the freshman allowed eight runs on nine hits with three walks and one strikeout.

"Early on I thought we were a little flat," EHS head coach Brad Drust said. "We came out and gave up some runs and that deflated us, but later one we started competing and battling. Joe went out there and threw up a couple of zeros and got a little more confidence and in the latter part of the game is when I thought we started competing well."

Vallette and Lightner each had a pair of hits and drove in two runs for Harrisburg, while Patrick Bittle and Noah Mayer each had a hit.

"We swung the bat well all day," Thompson said. "We had a lot of balls that were hit hard and Eldorado made a lot of nice plays in the field."

Michael Dann covers prep and college sports for the Harrisburg Daily Register. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.