Getting strong pitching yet again and generating plenty of offense, the Houston High School baseball team routed Summersville 11-1 Tuesday at Tiger Field.
The visiting Wildcats took a 1-0 lead by scoring their lone run in the top of the first inning when junior Joshua Prisco led off the contest with a single, stole second base, advanced to third on a grounder and then crossed the plate on a fielder’s choice.
The Diamond Tigers went ahead for good with a 3-run rally in the bottom of the second frame featuring a lead-off single by junior Ryan Wolfe along with 2 walks, 2 errors and a hit batter.
Houston went on to add 3 runs in the third inning, 1 in the fifth and 4 more in the sixth.
All 4 runs in the sixth came with 2 outs. The rally began with a run-scoring sacrifice fly by junior Casey Merckling and continued with a 2-run double by sophomore Wyatt Hughes to put the Tigers ahead 10-1. The contest then ended on a walk-off RBI single by junior Danny Venable that drove in Hughes and invoked the 10-run mercy rule.
Venable and freshman Shaun Buck combined to pitch a 1-hitter. Venable started and went 4 innings, allowing only 1 hit while striking out 4 and walking 3. Buck then worked the last 2 innings and fanned 5 of the 6 batters he faced.
Houston recorded 8 hits off of three different Summersville pitchers.
Wolfe went 2-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored, while Hughes went 1-for-1 with 2 walks, 2 RBIs and 4 runs scored.
Houston stole 7 bases in the game. Wolfe swiped 3 and junior Garyn Hall stole 2 to tie the HHS single-season stolen bases record of 33 he set last season (and there are still 7 regular season games left this year).
The Diamond Tigers (12-5) return to action with a nonconference game at Licking on Thursday and host a South Central Association matchup Friday against Salem.
