Keota comes back to knock off Hillcrest in first round of playoffs

On paper, the 10-7 Keota Eagles and the 11-9 Hillcrest Academy Ravens entered Friday’s first-round matchup in Pekin as two of the most evenly matched opponents in the first round of postseason baseball.

The game lived up to its billing, as the Eagles overcame an early deficit to overcome the Ravens 5-2 and advance to Tuesday’s second round.

The two sides were familiar with one another across multiple sports. Three years ago, Hillcrest knocked Keota out of the baseball playoffs. Earlier this year, they ended the Eagles’ season in basketball. On Friday, Keota got its revenge.

Starting pitcher Lawson Schrock got the scoring started early, as he shot a sac fly into right-center field to score Rowan Miller and give the Ravens a 1-0 lead.

Both defenses buckled down from there, registering three straight scoreless innings. In the fifth, both sets of birds were able to manufacture a run, as Silas Pappas and Miller collected RBIs.

In the sixth, the Ravens finally flinched.

“We kicked ourselves in the foot a little bit, it’s unfortunate, but that’s baseball,” Hillcrest coach Danny Hershberger said.

With runners on second and third, freshman catcher Beckett Miiller seemed to have the Eagles caught in a rundown, but the young backstop overthrew Rowan covering third, allowing the tying run to score. Suddenly, the floodgates were open.

Ayden Galindo stepped up to the plate and carried the Eagles’ momentum forward, drilling a double into the gap to give the Eagles a 4-2 lead that they wouldn’t look back from.

“As soon as it came off the bat, I just knew it was going to hit that gap, and I just kept going,” Galindo said. “I saw two guys go in, and that felt so good.”

Rowan Miller took the mound to stem the bleeding, but another error pushed Galindo across the plate. Brennan McGuire took the mound for Keota in the bottom of the frame and slammed the door, ushering the Eagles into Tuesday’s second round against host Pekin.

“He walked a couple of guys, but he got out of it,” Keota coach Austin Waterhouse said. “Getting himself out of those jams was awesome to see.”

The loss ended the careers of Hillcrest seniors Rowan Miller, Lincoln Miller and Ethan Yoder.

The Ravens finished with a record of 11-10.