Lancers get past Hicksville 5-2

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

A pair of runs in the fifth inning sparked Lincolnview to a 5-2 Senior Night win over visiting Hicksville on Tuesday.

With the game tied 2-2, Jaden Youtsey opened the bottom of the fifth with a double, then Creed Jessee walked before Youtsey scored on a wild pitch. Jessee then crossed home plate on a grounder by Ethan Kemler, giving the Lancers a 4-2 lead.

“It was big,” Lincolnview head coach Eric Fishpaw said of the fifth inning. “You look at guys like Jaden Youtsey, who was 4-4 and had a great day at the plate.”

Youtsey, who entered the game with 99 career hits, added an insurance run in the sixth, when he drove in Braxton Fox, who began the inning with a single.

The Lancers grabbed a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second on Fox’s RBI single that scored Brayden Evans. Hicksville answered with a pair of runs in the top of the third – a two out single by Eric Chapman drove in Jacob Miller, then Braden Langham singled in Parker Thiel.

Youtsey scored in the bottom half of the inning on a grounder by Kemler, then both teams were scoreless until Lincolnview struck in the fifth.

Evans and Fox each had two of Lincolnview’s 11 hits, while Chapman and Langham accounted for four of Hicksville’s nine hits.

Collin Overholt pitched 3.1 innings and allowed five hits and struck out three, while Thad Walker went the remaining 3.2 innings and earned the win by allowing four hits, fanning seven and walking one.

“Collin gave us a great start and I thought Thad did a tremendous job in the middle innings and to close the game for us,” Fishpaw said.

Dylan Meek pitched all six innings for Hicksville (9-8), allowing 11 hits while striking out five and walking two.

The Lancers (17-2) will host Crestview today.