WATERLOO — The Angola Hornets are enjoying a resurgence on the baseball field.
Now, they hope to add a sectional championship to their Northeast Corner Conference tournament championship from earlier this season.
The Hornets (23-6) will get that chance Monday when they face DeKalb in the championship game.
In 2023, the Hornets were 8-19. Two years ago, they were 12-12. Last year, they were 11-15.
Saturday, Angola scored twice in the sixth inning for a 6-4 victory over the Leo Lions in the morning game of the DeKalb Sectional.
It was a game filled with errors on both sides of the field, but junior Landen Bussard and senior Landen Leach did enough on the mound to give their team a chance.
“We’re at a good spot in our program where I can be mad about a lot of things, but we still get a sectional win,” Angola coach Clint Davis said.
“That says something for our program (that we’re) kind of growing up a little bit. We weren’t real clean and then we made a couple real good defensive plays late.
“Bussard kept us in the ballgame. He’s a bulldog. He wanted the ball and he’s been really good for us lately,” Davis said.
“We got some bunts down, two sac flies, ends up being a two-run difference. Those are the kind of things you have to win a sectional game.”
In the home half of the first, Leo (15-6) took the lead without a hit when Nolan Butcher led off with a walk, stole second and wound up at third after a sacrifice bunt. He would score on a sacrifice fly.
Angola got on the board in the third when Myles Steury picked up a two-out double, moved to third on a balk and scored on a wild pitch.
The Lions took the lead in the bottom half of the frame when Camron Peters singled, took third on a Dominic Rennecker double and scored on Jace Pidlisny’s sascrifice fly.
The Hornets took the lead for good in the fourth thanks to some timely hitting and three Leo errors.
Gavin Hunt started things off when he was hit by a pitch. Leach followed with a single. Hunt scored on Ryan Stuckey’s sacrifice fly.
Next, Jacob Fraley reached on an infield hit. He took second and Leach went to third when the Leo second baseman threw wildly to first on the play. Both runners scored on a booted grounder off the bat of Garrett Sorgen for a 4-2 lead.
The Hornets extended their margin with two more in the sixth.
Stuckey was hit by a pitch and Fraley followed with a single. Stuckey scored on a sacrifice fly by Myles Stuckey while Fraley came home on Bussard’s two-out single.
The Lions fought back with two in the same inning.
First, Max Shreck singled while Butcher was safe on an error and Peters singled to fill the bases.
Leach, who took over on the mound for Angola in the sixth, retired the next two batters, but issued a bases-loaded walk to Leo’s Patrick Drudy. Butcher later scored on a wild pitch to cut the margin to 6-4.
Neither team was able to add to its run total the rest of the way.
The Hornets got two defensive gems with a foul pop caught against the fence and a sliding catch in foul territory.
Key to this game was that Angola kept Leo off the scoreboard in both the second and fourth innings after the Lions loaded the bases but couldn’t score. The Lions stranded 11 runners on base in the game.
“We got out of a couple of jams,” Davis said. “We maybe didn’t eliminate it, but we slowed it down right? (Leo) didn’t score three or four.
“That’s things that will kill you in sectional play when you give up those crooked numbers and innings. We limited those crooked numbers which is good.”
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