Hornets Pound Their Way into District Finals

The Saline Hornets’ offense exploded against the Belleville Tigers Saturday morning as the Hornets rolled into the district finals 18-3.  Saline belted six extra base hits, including two home runs in the rout.

The Hornets struck quickly against Belleville, with the first four batters reaching and scoring for Saline.  Tim Bruley led the game off with a walk and came around to score on a bases loaded double from Garrett Gordon.  Gordon scored two batters later on Austin Hauck’s first double of the day.

Belleville struck for three in the second behind a couple of Hornet errors, but Brent Vaccaro bounced back, allowing just the three runs in four innings.  He threw just three pitches in the third and only allowed three hits and a walk to the Tigers.  He rarely fell behind hitters, and allowed his defense to work behind him. 

“That’s what we thought [Brent] had to do, not get himself in trouble.  We thought we could score some runs, and if he didn’t pitch from behind too much and give too many free passes, we had a good chance,” said head coach Scott Theisen.

Up 4-3 after two innings, Saline pulled away with solid hitting.  Hauck went 3-4 with two doubles, a home run and five RBIs.  Gordon added a triple and a walk to his first inning double and Bruley crushed a pitch to deep left field with one on in the fifth for a two run blast.

Alex Farmer came in to finish the game, allowing a walk but inducing a game-ending double play ball on a line drive to Justin Barnes, who threw out the runner that was caught off second.

The Hornets will battle for the district championship at 2:00 against the winner of the Bedford/Lincoln game.

 “[The team] knows what they’re up against.  They’ve played this team, so they know what it’s going to be a challenge.  They know what kind of game they’re going to need to play,” said Theisen.