Prep Baseball Report

PBR Spotlight Game: No. 9 Mason at No. 45 Kings



By Matt Wallisa

After the rain and thunderstorms passed, Mason and Kings matched up at Prasco Park on Saturday evening for a contest between two of the top 50 ranked teams in the state.

While neither team threw their ace in this weekend affair, the game still found itself lacking offensive highlights. 

The bats stayed quiet for both lineups until the bottom of the third inning when Kings' junior Brady Vanover lead off with a single to start the Kings attack. Senior Zach Hilderbrand followed with a perfectly executed bunt for a hit. 

With runners on first and second base, Kings followed with a ground ball that turned into a force out at first base. Now, with both runners in scoring position, sophomore Josh Woody hit a single to plate the first run of the game. After another ground ball put out brought home another run, Kings found itself up 2-0 on the highly ranked Mason squad.  

Later, in the bottom of the 5th inning, Kings' struck again as senior Nick Bellman roped a double to bring in another run and put Kings' up 3-0 on the Comets. 

Kings' Senior Pitcher Zach Hilderbrand did not need much run support as he put together an impressive shutout performance. At one point, the right-hander held a no-hitter through three and two-thirds of an inning. In seven innings of work, Helderbrand struck out 4 batters. 

Mason freshman Rodney Hutchinson took the loss after allowing 3 earned runs and striking out one batter over four and two-thirds innings of work. 

Kings will be back in action Monday against Milford and Mason will look to rebound as they visit Farfield.