YATES CENTER — Humboldt High’s baseball continued its early-season dominance Thursday, with a pair of 20-run wins in Yates Center.
“It was important to get on top of them early and put them away,” Humboldt junior Rayce Hoepker said. “Just don’t give them a chance.”
Humboldt coach Mike Miller was able to show off some depth in his pitching rotation. He plugged in No. 3 and No. 4 pitchers in as the starters to give the team’s aces, Jake Haviland and Hoepker’s, arms a day off.
“(Daylon Splane and Evan Gean) have been throwing well for us all year in the No. 3 and No. 4 roles,” Miller said. “They did a good job tonight.”
Humboldt got off to a slow start offensively in game one with just one run in the first inning and were shutout the second as Yates Center’s Gavin Dillow had a promising start.
Splane threw up zeros for Humboldt on the other side though and was able to keep his team’s slim lead until the offense woke up in the third inning.
“The big thing I was stressing to our guys was to jump on them early, get them down and keep them down,” Miller said. “Every game is important. We want to get better every game. Our offense is starting to come around a little bit.”
Humboldt piled up six runs in the third to extend the lead to 8-0.
The Cub offense blew the game wide open in the fourth with 15 runs to seal the 23-0 win after four innings.
Splane finished the game with six strikeouts. He allowed only two hits in his four innings.
Senior Rhett Smith was the offensive star. He went 3-for-5 with four RBIs and three runs scored.
Game two was a similar story.
Humboldt scored six runs in the first, three in the second, seven in the fourth and six in fifth as they rolled to a 22-2 win.
Gean got the start for Humboldt and threw five innings. He allowed one earned run and just four hits. He also struck out six.
Gean was a major factor at the plate as well going 4-for-5 with three RBIs and three runs scored.
“We got to keep working and keep getting better every day in practice,” Miller said. “Our ultimate goal is to win the league and, of course, win regionals and go back to state. We need to be playing our best baseball near the end of the year.”
