Aurora battled MICDS in the Class 4 State Semifinal, but errors would doom the Houn Dawgs in a 7-4 loss.
“We are 15, 16, 17 year olds. I think nerves had a little bit to do with it. I said before the game that the team that plays catch the best is going to win this ballgame. We didn’t play catch very well today,” Aurora Head Coach James Hoffman said.
Aurora committed seven total errors in the game with four of them coming in the first three innings leading to four runs with three of them being unearned. It sum, five of MICDS’ seven runs were unearned runs.
“Offensively we were fine. If you told me that we would have nine hits in this game and lose, I would have told you that you were a liar,” Hoffman said. “It is the way it turns out. It is baseball. We haven’t had seven errors in six weeks I think. That spans several games. We didn’t play our style of baseball.”
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Offensively, the Houn Dawgs knocked nine hits and hit the ball sharply all night.
“Our offensive output today was good. We attacked the baseball. There was one bad inning at the plate out of (seven),” Hoffman said. “I expect us to hit the baseball hard every time we are at the plate, and I think they do too.”
The big outburst came in the fifth inning where Aurora posted four runs.
Preston Naylor got it going with a one-out walk before advancing on Brett Schellen’s single. Both players moved up on a wild pitch on the next batter. Leadoff hitter Wyatt Sparks worked a walk to load the bases up, and then the Houn Dawgs really got to work.
Mathew Miller used a nice piece of two-strike hitting to score Naylor on an infield single. Gage Singer followed with a single through the right side to bring Schellen home. Eric Shoenberger then knocked a two RBI single to left field to tie the game up.
MICDS would respond in the next inning by scoring another unearned run to take the lead for good before scoring two more times in the top of the seventh to get the lead out to the final of 7-4.
Aurora will now play for third place tomorrow morning in O’Fallon as the Houn Dawgs try to end the season on a high note with a win.
“It is really going to be how we respond to this. We are going to be playing a team tomorrow that is in the same situation and feels exactly like you guys. How you respond to versus how they respond to it is really going to determine the outcome tomorrow,” Hoffman said. “You learn from your mistakes and move on. Baseball is a game. I tried to explain to them that baseball is what you do. It does not define who you are. That is the biggest thing they need to take away from it. How we come back tomorrow is going to say a lot about their character. I would look for a good showing out of them tomorrow.”
Aurora will play for third place at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday in O’Fallon, Mo.
