Baseball: Milas, Burlington Central have hot bats vs. Hampshire
A seasoned hitter like Burlington Central senior Clay Milas figured he had a week like this coming.
The Rockets' leadoff man has been pounding the ball most of the season, but solid contact hasn't always translated to hits.
"Early on in the year I was running into some bad luck," Milas said.
Consider his luck changed.
The left-handed hitter went 2-for-4 with a 2-run home run and 3 RBI in Central's 10-0, six-inning, nonconference home win over Hampshire on Friday, capping a fruitful stretch. In three Central victories this week, Milas went 8-for-13 with a double, 2 triples, a home run, 7 RBI and 7 runs scored.
"Clay's been on fire for us lately," Central coach Kyle Nelson said. "He was a very good hitter last year but he's made a lot of adjustments and he's really turned the corner."
The productive week upped Milas' batting average to .357.
"Lately, I've just been on time, whether it's a slow pitcher or a fast pitcher," the second baseman said. "I've been getting the barrel to the ball and finding holes."
Milas wasn't the only batter finding holes for the Rockets, who registered 9 hits compared to 2 for Hampshire (7-13-1). Starting pitcher Josh Noeska finished 3-for-3 at the plate with a double, while David Lauber managed 2 hits in 4 at-bats and drove in 2 runs to fuel the offense for Central (16-3).
The Rockets scored four times in the second inning. Caden Scott drove in the first run with a fielder's choice groundball, and Milas delivered a two-out, run-scoring single to center field. In between the Whip-Purs committed an infield throwing error that cost them 2 runs.
"I was pretty impressed with their ability to square balls up," Hampshire coach John Sarna said of the Rockets. "Unfortunately, we just made too many mistakes and put runners in scoring position. The next thing you know we're down 4-0.
"It's hard with our schedule to put ourselves in holes like that and be successful. We have to fix it, we have to keep working and we have to find a way to do better."
The Rockets added 3 runs in the fifth inning, keyed by Ryan Knowlton's 2-run double. Milas made it 9-0 in the sixth inning with a 2-run blast over the right-field wall, his first varsity round-tripper. Lauber concluded the proceedings with a double to the right-field corner that triggered the 10-run rule.
The overabundance of run support was appreciated by Noeska (4-0), a 6-foot-3 right-hander who needed little of it. He pitched 6 shutout innings, limiting the Whips to 2 hits without a walk. He struck out 8.
"I feel like I had change-ups and sliders early in the count, so was able to throw it any count to keep them off-balance,"Noeska said.
Noah Schrader and Matthew Jachec had the only hits for Hampshire.