By RYAN WALKER
PONETO — Southern Wells mustered up just one hit in its 19-3 loss to Oak Hill Tuesday night.
The Raiders (1-1) surrendered only eight hits in the game but gave the Golden Eagles 16 free passes to first base that ultimately allowed Oak Hill to plate several runs in the first few innings.
“You can’t start a game walking guys,” first-year head coach Evan Huffman said after the game. “We’ve got to come out stronger than that. Our starters have got to throw strikes. Our relievers got to throw strikes. You can’t give up free bags. As an offense, we want to take the free bags, so seeing them take those made it an easy job for them (Oak Hill).”
Oak Hill (1-1) earned its first victory of the season, coming off two straight years of 20-plus wins. The baseball program has become one of the best in the area, and Huffman, who was hired recently at his alma mater, looks up to the Golden Eagles to where he wants his Raiders to be.
“It’s good to play teams like that and to understand one day we could be on that level, but we also needed to understand there’s a lot of work that goes into being like an Oak Hill,” he said.
The Golden Eagles didn’t have to do much to get on the board in the first inning, scoring four runs on no hits. All four runs were scored by batters that were hit by pitches that later scored on three passed balls and a balk.
By the middle of the third inning, the lead was up to 14-0, with the majority of the runs being scored by hits this time around.
Southern Wells showed signs of life by the third inning at the plate when Case Boxell and Carson Smith walked and moved up into scoring position. With two outs, Senior third baseman Kedrik Sonnigsen stepped up to the plate and ripped a double down the left field line to score both runners to get on the scoreboard.
“It was very impressive to see us fight back,” Huffman said. “We were down early in our game against North Side and seeing the kids fight back through some adversity. It shows that we’re willing to keep fighting, and it’s the right guys stepping up at the right time. Sonnigsen’s double gave us a spark, and that was the spark we needed. We just didn’t execute down the line to take advantage of it.”
Freshman Trey Slusher would add the final run for the Raiders, scoring on a passed ball.
Both sides allowed too many walks, Oak Hill drew 12, and Southern Wells drew eight. Huffman would like to see more competitiveness on the pitching side, especially when the Raiders had just one error defensively.
“I’m definitely expecting them to execute much better on the mound in the next game, and they will, I know they will,” he said.
Southern Wells hosts Liberty Christian at 5 p.m. Thursday, April 6.
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