Aurora Defeats Hoban in an Extra Inning Thriller

Photo by Al Kornspan

Aurora – The Hoban Knights baseball team traveled north to Aurora to take on the Greenmen on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in Northeast Ohio. In front of a packed house to watch two of the top high school pitchers in the state, Northeast Ohio baseball fans got their money’s worth.  In 10 innings, the Aurora Greenmen defeated the Hoban Knights, 5-4.

 

“It was eventful, two great teams going at it,” said Aurora Head Baseball Coach Trent Dalton. “From start to finish Nathan Fletcher was great on the mound. They scored early on, we could have easily died down, and they could have ran away with it. But we fought back (against pitcher Noah LaFine, a Vanderbilt commit). Got up 4-1 early on. They clawed back there late in the game, tied it up and we went into extra innings. We stayed focused even though we had some mistakes that happened against a good Hoban team that capitalized on it. I am really proud of the guys. They beared down and came together as a team and ended up winning it in the 10th inning.”

 

As Coach Dalton mentioned, Nate Fletcher, the junior NCAA Division I commit who will be playing baseball at Rhode Island University, had a great game.

After the victory, Fletcher provided his thoughts on the game.

“Today was a really good game,” said Fletcher. “Started off strong, set the tone right away. I think that’s really what did it. After we set the tone, we were just on it, even with all the errors, we came right back, didn’t get out of the game, that’s all you could ask for.”

For the game, Fletcher pitched 5 and ⅔ innings, giving up two runs, and two hits while striking out six. In relief for Aurora were Kyle Hanna, Tommy Hach, and Zach Williams. 

The bullpen pitched great as they did not allow an earned run and gave up only two hits over 4 and ⅓ innings.

Offensively, Aurora was led by Dominic Trivisonno who was 2-5 on the day and also had the game winning RBI in the bottom of the 10th inning.  

Fletcher is having a great year on the mound. In 23 innings pitched, Fletcher is 4-1, with a  2.74 ERA and has struck out 32 batters.  

With the victory, the Greenmen move to 16-4 on the season. Aurora returns to the diamond on Tuesday to face Highland.