Western Boone Jr. - Sr. High School

Western Boone did all the little things they needed to in order to win a baseball game on Tuesday night. The Stars jumped out to a first inning lead against Crawfordsville, scored every time they came to the plate and came away with an 11-1, five-inning win over the Athenians. "Off the top of my head, that was probably the best hitting game we have had all year," Western Boone head coach Michael Nance said. "We really challenged the guys at practice yesterday about being more aggressive and doing damage with runners in scoring position. The guys got the message and I am proud of their effort." The results from that message came early for the Stars. With two on and one out in the first, Levi Stewart hit a single up the middle to make it 1-0. Jack Mallory followed with an RBI-double to make it 2-0. In the second, Quinn Westerfeld made it 3-0 with an RBI-single. "Any time you have Quinn on the mound and you can get him a couple runs in the first inning, that feels really good," Nance said. "He didn't have his best stuff tonight, but allowed him to work through it and we played really good defense behind him for the whole game." Crawfordsville got their lone run in the third, but stranded two runners in the inning. After stranding five runners in the first three innings, Westerfeld retired seven of the final eight batters he faced, including a four-pitch top of the fifth. He allowed two hits and walked four, striking out six. "The biggest growth this year was the fifth inning, where he only threw four pitches," Nance said. "Instead of going out there and thinking he has to strike out the side, he just said, I'm just going to eat a little bit and let my defense work. He got out of there in four pitches and we went right back to hitting." Owen Howe's single in the third restored the Stars' lead to three, before back-to-back singles from Kahne Reid and Layton Yancey had it 6-1 in the fourth. In the fifth, the Stars had two on with one out before Stewart hit a 2-run single and after back-to-back errors, the Stars led 9-1. An RBI-single by Yancey and a squeeze bunt by Howe ended the game. Stewart and Yancey each had two hits and multiple RBIs. Beau Sawyer drew two walks and was hit by two pitches, scoring three times. The two teams meet up against Wednesday in Crawfordsville. "We just want to keep hitting," Nance said. "That was our challenge to the guys just now. Tomorrow night's a new game, they're obviously a very good baseball team and a great program, and we have to come out hitting. Easton is going to have the ball and we have to get some runs up behind him." Will Willems is the Sports Editor of the Lebanon Reporter. Follow him on Twitter @Will_Willems.