ROXANA – Highland's baseball team has been known for some time for their aggressiveness. They're not afraid to take the extra base, not afraid to lay down sacrifice bunts, not afraid to challenge fielders.
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Roxana got a full view of that aggressive, Whiteyball-type play at home Friday afternoon when the Bulldogs pounded out 10 hits and took advantage of five Shell errors as they went on to score an 11-2 win.
“That's how they play,” said Shell coach Scott Harper. “Coach (Joel) Hawkins has always been aggressive on the base paths and coaches good fundamental baseball. We did give them a couple of outs as well, but it's still early of course.
“We've got a good mix of experienced and young players this year, and we're just glad to be able to get out and get some work in.”
Roxana managed to get the early lead in the first, starting when singled and, one out later, came home on a Logan Reardon double to the right-field fence. The Bulldogs countered the Shells run when Matt Augustine led off with a single and came around to score on a one-out double by Sam Green to tie it up 1-1 through two innings.
In the third, Will Greenwald opened the Bulldog half of the inning with a single and stole second, one of 11 steals on the day. Cody Bentlage then reached base on a sacrifice and both scored when Chance Foss misplayed a ground ball to put Highland up 3-1.
In the fourth, the Bulldogs scored three times, highlighted by a two-RBI single from Bentlage and pushed across three more runs in the sixth when Bentlage brought in two more runs with a single. Highland scored twice more in the seventh, and the Shells got a consolation run in the bottom of the inning.
Reardon went 1-for-2 on the day with a double and a RBI and Blake Vandiver was 1-for-3 with a double and a RBI. Foss had a 3-for-4 day while Randy Skiff also had a hit for Roxana.
Tanner Davis took the loss, throwing four innings and giving up six runs (four earned) and seven hits while walking one.
The Shells travel to Pana for a noon game Saturday, then host Jersey at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.
