Fishers High School

The #3 Fishers Tigers Varsity Baseball Team (17-3/9-0) defeated #9 Avon Orioles 4-2 in Game 1 of the HCC Series. The Tigers jumped on the board first with great baserunning and back-to-back 2-out RBI. Mayo Fernandez delivered the first 2-out RBI with a line drive to left past the 3rd baseman to score Trevor Hall, who had walked, stole 2nd, and advanced to 3rd on a dirt ball read. Fernandez advanced to 3rd when he stole 2nd and an errant throw went into the outfield. Carter Strole plated Fernandez with a 2-strike, 2-out single to center. The Orioles answered with a run in the 4th to cut the lead to 2-1, but the Tigers added an insurance run in both the 5th and 6th innings. Ferandez led off the 5th with a single to right centerfield. Two outs later, Deagan Repp scored Fernandez with a 2-strike, 2-out single to right field. In the 6th, Luke Cherry led off the inning with a single to center. Pinch runner Collin Bumps advanced to 2nd on an errant throw by the catcher trying to back pick him at 1st. Hall advanced Bumps to 3rd with a sacrifice bunt, and Jase Ruggles scored Bumps with an RBI groundout to give the Tigers a 4-1 lead heading into the 7th. The Orioles scored 1 unearned run in the 7th, but reliever Owen Lukac was able to close the door for his 1st save of the season. Starting pitcher Owen Sanders (5-0) earned the win on the mound. Sanders pitched 6 innings, allowed 1 earned run on 6 hits, while striking out 6 and walking 1. Sanders’ big moment came in the 5th when the Orioles had a runner at 3rd and no outs. Sanders proceeded to strike out the side to preserve the 3-1 lead at the time. Lukac pitched the 7th for the save, allowing 1 unearned run on no hits. Fernandez and Huston Dunn led the Tigers with 2 hits each. Repp, Cherry, and Strole all had 1 hit. Repp, Ruggles, Fernandez, and Strole each had an RBI. The Tigers travel to Avon tomorrow for Game 2 of the series. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30.