Greenwood continued to roll on Wednesday night, pounding out 17 hits on their way to their seventh straight win in a 14-1 victory over Warren Central
The Gators had six players with multiple hits on the night, including three hits apiece from Dell Henk and John Hicks.
Hicks, who has six hits in this week’s series with the Dragons, belted his first home run of the season in the top of the 5th inning, a two-run shot that sparked a string of 12 unanswered runs for Greenwood.
“We’ve been getting a better feel for the pitchers,” said Hicks of the.Gators’ late success. “I’ve just been trying to sit back a little bit and catch it up the middle. After seeing them a couple of times through, we have been able to hit the ball a lot better the next time around.”
This success has played big contributions in continuing Greenwood’s win streak to seven straight games.
“We’re starting to play with a little more consistency,” said Gator head coach Jason Jaggers. “Earlier in the season we had been hitting the ball well, fielding well, but not pitching them well. When you put those three phases together, we’re a pretty decent team.”
As they have in the past few games, Greenwood (12-9) got off to a slow start, limping to a 2-1 lead after four and a half innings before Hicks’s homer.
“We’ve started slow in games as the season has gone on, but we are doing a good job at getting a run or two across early,” said Jaggers. “(Hicks) does a really good job at seeing things at the plate at making his own adjustments. Even if he has an 0-2 count, he can still find a way to hit the ball hard and make the defense make a play.”
After the homer, Connor Cline robbed home from second base to give the Gators a 5-1 lead after four and a half innings.
The Dragons (0-18) threatened all evening by getting batters on base, but failed to produce any runs from those bases.
“We just have to work on stringing more hits together,” said Warren Central head coach Adam Biller. “Tonight we had runners on but weren’t able to get them in.One of our problems is that we can get to the fifth inning, but we struggle with playing with the same mindset from there on out.”
After grabbing the four-run lead, Greenwood piled on nine more runs in the last two innings as multiple pitching changes for the Dragons only resulted in multiple hits for the Gators.
“We are still looking for someone that we believe can make it a while game,” said Biller. “Right now we just have guys that can only make it a few innings. We’re still trying to find an identity on the mound.”
The series, which Greenwood now leads 2-0, will continue on Thursday evening at Warren Central. First pitch is set for 5:00 p.m.
