Baseball: Hampshire settles for tie in 10-inning opener

Updated: March 19, 2012 9:35PM

Hampshire opened its baseball season on Monday and couldn’t get that clutch hit to take down DeKalb.

Luckily for the Whip-Purs, the visiting Barbs also struggled scoring runs. The teams ultimately went 10 innings before the game was called a 3-3 tie due to darkness.

Hampshire definitely had plenty of opportunities, leaving 12 runners on base, including the bases loaded with nobody out in the bottom of the seventh inning and two runners on with no outs in the ninth inning.

Hampshire did a nice job playing small ball early. The Whip-Purs scored all three of their runs after advancing base runners with a sacrifice bunt.

Although Hampshire couldn’t pull out a victory, coach John Sarna was pleased with how his team played in his head coaching debut at the school.

“I really wanted us to be competitive in our first game and we were,” said Sarna. “We had opportunities to win and couldn’t get that big hit when we needed it. We made some base-running mistakes and fielding mistakes, and we know what we need to work on.”

The hitters might not have been in midseason form for Hampshire, but its pitchers sure were. Juniors Shane Hernandez and Dan Keller each went five innings and were impressive. Hernandez started the game and gave up two runs (one earned) on four hits.

“I pitched a lot better than I thought I would today,” said Hernandez. “I was definitely pleased with my first start of the season.”

Keller entered the game in the sixth inning and started off slowly, walking the first two batters he faced before he got in his groove. The Hampshire southpaw gave up just one run on two hits and added four strikeouts.

“I was a little nervous my first inning and that showed in my wildness,” said Keller. “I had some trouble pitching to the lefthanders, but settled down and was pleased with my outing.”

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