By John Rittenhouse
Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth evened its baseball record at 1-1 by posting a Red Rock Conference win in Lamberton Tuesday.
After dropping their opener one week earlier by giving up a big lead in the seventh inning, the Patriots turned the tables while posting a 7-3 win over Red Rock Central-Westbrook-Walnut Grove.
H-BC-E trailed 3-2 when RRC-W-WG plated a pair of runs in the bottom of the third but rallied to score five runs in the sixth and seventh innings to give first-year coach Jason Langland his initial victory.
"Our guys really impressed me," Langland said. "The kids really played a great game. Justin Van Maanen pitched a great game, we made some plays defensively and we hit the ball well."
Van Maanen, who allowed a first-inning run before being touched for a pair of counters in the third, blanked RRC-W-WG over the final four frames to get the win. He allowed four hits and eight walks while fanning three batters.
The Patriots turned Van Maanen into a winner by scoring two runs in the sixth inning and three in the seventh.
Darin DeBoer, who doubled twice and drove in three runs in the game, tied the game at three with a two-bagger in the top of the sixth. Zach Wysong, who also had two RBIs in the game, chased home DeBoer with the go-ahead run as the inning progressed.
Lyle DeBoer capped a two-hit, two-RBI game with a run-scoring double in the seventh. Darin DeBoer added a two-run double.
After RRC-W-WG took a 1-0 lead in the first, H-BCE tied the game with an RBI single from Wysong in the second. Lyle DeBoer doubled home a run to make it a 2-1 game in the top of the third.
H-BC-E hosts Murray County Central today and Edgerton Monday before playing in Adrian Tuesday.