Prep baseball: Ravens rally for split with Panthers
· Yahoo Sports
PEKIN — Last July, the Pekin baseball team needed one more hit against Hillcrest Academy to earn the program's second-ever state tournament trip.
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The Panthers spent most of Tuesday night taking out their frustrations out on the Ravens for that heartbreaking substate championship loss. Pekin dominated a five-inning opener, winning 11-1, and seemed poised to put away Hillcrest Academy in game two building a 12-3 lead after four innings.
The Ravens, however, refused to go away. Hillcrest Academy scored eight runs in the fifth inning to begin an epic comeback, taking the lead for good in the top of the sixth before holding on in the bottom of the seventh snapping Pekin's nine-game winning streak with a wild 18-16 win in the nightcap of a Southeast Iowa Superconference north division doubleheader.
"That's the thing. Hillcrest always comes ready," Pekin head baseball coach Aaron Deutsch said. "(Hillcrest Academy head baseball coach) Danny (Hershberger) coaches a good program over there and he had those guys ready to play. We just need to keep playing our game, continue doing what we need to do and keep trying to push runs across. We can't let up. The moment you let up, something bad is bound to happen."
Pekin (9-2, 5-1 SEI north) will look to bounce back with a conference road contest at Lone Tree on Thursday.