By Rick Teverbaugh
The Herald Bulletin
ANDERSON, Ind. —
Anderson Hockett Blue pounded out 13 hits, all but five for extra bases, in pounding Bristol 18-7 Saturday evening at Memorial Field.
Chase Freeman hit a pair of home runs and a single in driving in seven runs against Ronnie Hawkins, Bristol’s starting pitcher.
“My first couple of at-bats, I wasn’t feeling it, but then I started hitting it the way I can,” said Freeman, the team’s shortstop. “The first pitch was a fast ball, and the second one was a slider. We haven’t had any trouble with offense this season.”
They were both ineffective if the goal was keeping the ball inside the fence.
Hockett scored three times in the first inning and never trailed in the contest.
Bristol had four errors, and it seems each miscue opened the floodgates for Hockett runs. Of the 18 runs Hockett scored, just five were earned.
Freeman wasn’t Hockett’s only big basher. Anderson University-bound Ronnie Crouch had a pair of fence-denting doubles and another clout that cleared the fence. He drove in three runs.
At the top of Hockett’s lineup, Brad Kindred and Zach Tumulty each scored three times, along with Freeman and Crouch. Kindred had a single, walked twice and reached on an error. Tumulty had a pair of singles and a double.
Hockett pitcher Nate Wechsler notched a complete game. He gave up 11 hits, struck out five and walked two. He tired in the fifth and gave up four runs, but the complete game was huge as Hockett was scheduled to play a game late Saturday night against rival Muncie.
Hockett had just one error. All but one of the runs given up by Wechsler were earned.
Jordan Smith, Mike Reiner and Eric Jackson each had a pair of hits for Bristol.
