Orangewood Christian Wins Again, Stays Undefeated

It was a beautiful day for baseball on Tuesday evening as district rivals Orangewood Christian and The Master’s Academy squared off. It’s the Eagles first year in 3A-3 after winning their old district the previous year.

The Rams ended up beating the Eagles 13-1 this time around. With the teams now in the same district, the Rams and Eagles play again a few days in back-to-back match-ups.

“We’ve got 12 games within our district where we have to compete in, and those rankings are important.” Rams Manager Scott Hilinski said, while also noting the non-district schedule the team plays this season to help better prepare for the district action. “We’ll get the chance to play some 8A and 9A programs, so we’ll see some good arms and good competition.”

Both starting pitchers were impressive in Tuesday’s battle. Orangewood’s Christian Simon retired the first 11 batters he faced, striking out four in the process.

“It was my best outing so far,” said Simon. “I was locked into everything and everything felt really good.”

Simon exited after the fourth inning.

“I’m happy with the level of intensity and the aggressiveness,” Hilinksi said. “It’s kind of been our style from the beginning. With the talent that we have on this team we know we have to throw strikes, pitch to contact, play good defense, and play aggressive no matter who we’re facing.”

On the other side, The Master’s Academy’s Andrew Kaminsky opened up the game firing. He left the first inning unscathed before running into the Orangewood offense in the second inning. During that inning, Michael McArdle laced a lead-off single, which started a four-run rally. Michael Spears accounted for two of those early runs, hitting a double during his second at-bat.

Kaminsky came back in the bottom of the third inning to hold Orangewood scoreless before knocking a home run of his own in the top of the fourth inning.

However, Orangewood changed the tide of the game in the bottom of the fourth. It tallied seven hits and nine runs, with senior Jake Leiffer knocking in the first two via a triple. Trent Lawrence also knocked in two runners later in the fourth inning, and had a total of three RBIs for the night.

The Rams are now 10-0, and look to improve on their regional final finish from last season. When asked what the difference was between this years team and last years, Leiffer was quick to respond.

“We had a really good team last year, but we didn’t have the same chemistry that this team has now,” Leiffer said.

Simon agreed, saying their success is owed to “just staying together as a team and being locked in, being focused.”

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