To win an opening day roadie, teams rely on strong leaders.
Take Zach Hunsaker, for example.
On a windy Tuesday in Hollister, the Ava senior turned in solid performances on the mound and at the plate in a 17-6 Bears victory.
Thanks to back-to-back home runs from Hunsaker and Nick Sterling in the first inning, Ava jumped out to a 5-run lead before the big right-hander made his first trip to the bump.
Working into a steady 25 mph headwind, Hunsaker kept the Hollister hitters guessing and worked his pitches on the corners. His 80-pitch complete game included two strikeouts and two walks.
"I was mostly working my curve ball," Hunsaker said. "Today it was easier to keep down, for the most part, on the outside of the zone, so I just kept pounding it. You've got to keep the ball down, like really low. If it gets up in the air, it'll fly a long ways … like it did, twice."
Hunsaker gave up just six hits on the afternoon, including a pair of two-run bombs from Hollister center fielder Zech Wingate.
Wingate's blast in the fourth inning helped cut the Tiger deficit to just two runs; however, an 11-run inning in the Bears' fifth inning provided a knockout punch and put the game out of reach.
Ava head coach Rex Sawyer was pleased with his team's effort and pointed to Hunsaker's big game.
"Today was a good effort out of Hunsaker, our senior, on the mound," Sawyer said."We put the ball in play for him and scored a lot of runs. He's also got our hottest bat going right now. I don't know if he's made an out yet. A pretty good effort overall."
For Hollister and coach John Burgi, an overall lack of command and control on the mound put the Tigers in a deep hole.
"The command was bad," Burgi said. "We walked a lot of guys, and just could not hit our spots. Balls were getting up in the zone, and they were hitting them out. On the mound, we have got to have better command of our pitches."
Hollister (0-3) returns to action Friday with double-header games against Marshfield and Carthage, while Ava (1-0) travels to Mansfield next Monday.
Ava 5 0 1 0 11 — 17 11 0
Hollister 0 0 0 4 2 — 6 9 6
Ava RBI
Caleb Johnson – 4
Zach Hunsaker – 3
Nick Sterling – 2
Colton Skyles – 1
Devin Elliot – 1
Kolton Ritter – 1
Ava HR
Hunsaker – 1
Sterling – 1
Johnson – 1
Hollister RBI
Zech Wingate – 4
Jenner Steele – 2
Hollister HR
Wingate – 2
Ava Pitching
Hunsaker – 5 innings / 2 Ks
Hollister Pitching
Landon Farquhar, Chris Misemer, Trey Dorton, Ethan Parks, Braedon Newell – 5 innings / 7Ks
