Western Boone Jr. - Sr. High School

The Western Boone baseball team showed Saturday that they can compete with any one on their schedule. The Stars welcomed in traditional 3A power Western for a double-header and came away with a two-game split, winning game one 9-8 before losing game two 12-2. "We had a really good approach in the first game and got away from that a little bit in the second game, but it was a good day for us," Western Boone head coach Michael Nance said. "Splitting against a team as good as that, it feels like a good day." Coming off a strong season a year ago, the Stars have lofty goals for this year. They have challenged themselves with some of their early season games, first traveling to Class 2A No. 6 Greencastle on Thursday, and then facing Western. Those opponents will not only prepare the Stars for Sagamore Conference play, but the post-season as well. "It's huge for us," Nance said. "Playing well against Greencastle (a 4-2 loss) and winning game one is going to be a big confidence boost for us. We have big goals at the end of the year. If we can play with and beat Western, we can play with anyone else on our schedule including our sectional. This is a big confidence builder." In game one, the Stars fell behind 4-0 in the top of the second inning, but got three runs in the bottom of the second, getting an RBI-single from Brennan Kopriva and adding runs on a wild pitch and an error. Beau Sawyer's RBI-single tied the game at four, and after Western took a 6-4 lead, the Stars got an RBI-single from Easton Nance and added two more runs on an error to go up 7-6. freestar Tied at 7 heading to the bottom of the fifth, Western Boone got an RBI from Evan Kiplinger to give the Stars the lead, and a wild pitch plated the decisive ninth run. "We had a great approach at the plate," Nance said. "We have really been focusing on hunting fast balls early in the count. Our guys have bought in and we hit a lot of fast balls early in counts today." Kopriva got the start, allowing six runs (two earned) in three innings, allowing just two hits. Sawyer got the win, pitching two innings and allowing two runs on two hits. Levi Stewart got the save, pitching the final two innings and striking out four. In game two, the score was close for most of the game. The Panthers scored two in the first, but the Stars came back in the second - getting a sac fly from Owen Howe. But after the Panthers scored two unearned runs in the fourth, the Stars stranded two in the bottom half of the inning and visitors added two more runs in the fifth. Western Boone had a two-out rally to score a run in the bottom of the fifth, but stranded two more and Western put the game away with a 5-run sixth. "It was just the opposite of game one," Nance said. "We were taking too many pitches and too many strikes. Our guys continued to fight, especially in the first five innings and gave ourselves a chance. It's just hard sometimes when you get down like that in the second game of a double header when you have been out here for five hours grinding." freestar The Stars travel to North Montgomery Tuesday to kick off conference play. "We want to have the approach we had in game one today," Nance said. "There are a couple of defensive things we need to clean up too, because we weren't as sharp today as we have been." Will Willems is the Sports Editor of the Lebanon Reporter. Follow him on Twitter @Will_Willems.