You could say Layne Hurst had a good afternoon at the park.
Effective both on the mound and at the plate, the Forsyth senior threw a two-hit shutout and parked a two-run homer in a 10-0 victory over Billings.
Hurst's fourth-inning blast to deep left, his 36th as a Panther, set a new school record for career home runs, as well.
"I had absolutely no idea," Hurst said. "No one told me anything, so it hasn't been on my mind. He threw me a knuckleball. I mean, it was a good knuckleball, and I honestly didn't think it was going out, but it just wound up pushing over. I was kind of happy about it."
On the mound, Hurst was simply dominant. The right-hander worked inside and out with a fastball-slider combination and kept the Billings hitters off-balance.
"I have four pitches, but I only threw two today," Hurst said. "Typically, I've been throwing two this season, and if it's working, I'm just going to keep using it. They weren't really wanting to swing at anything on the outside corner, so I tried to paint it. The slider, I threw it a little bit inside to where it came at them and broke across. It just got to where it fooled them a little bit."
Forsyth head coach Jim Julian wasn't a bit surprised by Hurst's solid performance.
"Honestly, everything was working today," Julian said. "Lane pitched a heck of a game, just like he has all season. He commanded his pitches, pitched aggressively, stayed in the zone, kept the ball down and just attacked hitters like he has all year."
Hurst notched six strikeouts and zero walks to go with his two-hit shutout; however, the all-state selection and Mineral Area juco commit wasn't the only Panther to enjoy success.
The Forsyth bats amassed 12 hits in the game, and all nine hitters reached base at least once. Leadoff hitter Jett Schanda set the tone early, going three-for-four with a triple and one RBI.
Julian praised his team's discipline and focus.
"At the plate, we had a good approach," Julian said. "We didn't try to get too big on swings, and just took what the pitcher gave us. We put good swings on good pitches and didn't chase much. Then, we played great defense behind Lane. Played pretty well and ran the bases pretty well … I'm pretty pleased with the overall performance."
For Billings and coach Beau Davis, a road trip to Forsyth can be challenging enough. The Wildcats stretched an already thin roster a bit more when disciplinary issues caused Davis to bench two starters for the game.
As any good coach would, the Billings' skipper took full advantage of the teaching opportunity to show his kids what happens when core values break down.
"To me, I'd rather have this going on at this point in the season then, say, right before our district tournament," Davis said. "We're going to right this ship. Right now, we've got some leadership issues, and they're going to see, right off the bat, what that leads to. I've also seen some signs of some kids I've been wanting to see step up with some leadership, and they're starting to take control of the team. I hate to predict the future, but I think we're going to be in a good spot."
Davis also singled out Kyle Kimberling's pitching as a bright spot on the evening. The senior right-hander was thrust into extended duty due to the Wildcats' limited roster.
"I thought Kyle pitched well," Davis said. "He stayed under 90 pitches, and he battled the whole game. That's all I can ask. We were trying to stay inside, but when you get behind in the count, you have to come back with a strike, and they were able to capitalize on that. They're a good-hitting team."
Billings (5-7) opens up play in the Southwest Wood Bat Classic Monday against Central, while Forsyth (11-3) hosts Blue Eye on Tuesday.
Forsyth – 10, Billings – 0
Forsyth 1 1 2 3 2 1 — 10
Billings 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0
