By Fred Kroner
Noah Davison delivered two hits and two runs batted in on Tuesday (June 1), but the Hawks gave up the tying and tie-breaking runs in the bottom of the sixth inning and suffered a 5-4 baseball loss at Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond.
Nick Coffin reached base twice by walks.
VG/Heritage gave four pitchers some work. Sam Bender started and allowed one hit and no runs in two innings.
He was followed to the mound by Dylan Ploense, Carson Howard and Davison.
Howard, who took the loss, struck out four batters in his 2 1/3-inning stint.
The Hawks’ season ended on Wednesday (June 2) at home with a Class 2A regional quarterfinal loss to 10th-seeded Hoopeston Area, 5-2. Villa Grove/Heritage was the seventh-seed for the tournament.
Luke Zimmerman drilled two hits for VG/Heritage and Davison knocked in both of his team’s runs with a third-inning single that trimmed the deficit to 4-2. His hit drove in Ploense and Ryan Cheatham.
Mason Wyant (2-3) pitched a complete game, allowing seven hits in seven innings. He walked five and struck out four.
Villa Grove/Heritage ends the season with an overall 8-11 record.
For the season, six players compiled .300, or better, batting averages. The leader was Cheatham (.424). He was followed by Davison (.358), Howard (.357), Tyler Wilson (.323), Zimmerman (.319) and Coffin (.302).
Cheatham (16), Coffin (15) and Wyant (12) were the stolen base leaders. Cheatham (12), Davison (8), Howard (7) and Zimmerman (7) were the team leaders in extra-base hits.
Cheatham led in doubles (9), home runs (3) and games with more than one hit (9). Zimmerman had the most triples (2).
Wyant (10 games) and Ploense (9 games) were the most used pitchers. Wyant (38 2/3) and Howard (20 1/3) pitched the most innings.
Wyant (42) and Howard (23) also led in strikeouts. Carson (3-2), Ploense (2-2) and Wyant (2-3) had the top records.
VG/Heritage pitchers combined to throw three shutouts. The team was not shut out all season.
In 19 games, the Hawks outscored their opponents 161-151 with a high game of 23 runs against Urbana.
The Hawks’ seniors were Cheatham, Coffin, Davison, Jack Humphrey, Howard, Jairus Kiser, Ploense, Jalen Southord and Wyant.
