By Jason Avery
News-Times Staff
JUNCTION CITY - It seems Keelan Hodge is picking up right where he left off at the end of the 2017 season.
On Friday, the sophomore struck out 12, going the distance with a six-hit shutout to lift Junction City to a 4-0 win over Hamburg in Class 3A-4A District 12 play.
“Keelan was as sharp as he’s been all year,” said Junction City coach Joe Paul Hammett. “Each game, he’s been a little better. He felt good going into the seventh, so we stayed with him. He beat the strike zone up, and the outfield made two or three good catches behind him.”
Hodge capped a terrific freshman season by winning his last five starts, allowing just eight runs over 31 2/3 innings, and he was just as stingy against the Lions, permitting only two baserunners to reach third base.
Hodge, who walked one, got all of the run support he would need after the Dragons scored three runs in the first against Lions starter Steven Huff, who nearly matched Hodge pitch for pitch.
Bryce Ware led off the frame with a single to center, and Tanner McLelland followed with a hit-and-run single to shallow right to put runners at the corners.
Hodge then hit a grounder to third that was momentarily bobbled before a two-base throwing error allowed Ware to cross the plate with the game’s first run.
One out later, Jack Smith drove in a run with a sacrifice fly to center to score McLelland.
Junction City then got a key two-out hit.
Charles Hoof, whose two-run double put the Dragons (8-2, 2-0) in the lead for good in Tuesday’s win at Warren, laced Huff’s 1-2 offering for an RBI double to left to score Hodge, who had advanced to third on Smith’s sacrifice fly.
“The first inning, we jumped out and hit the ball pretty hard,” Hammett said.
But after their uprising in the first, Huff silenced the Dragons’ bats, pitching around a two-base error in the second and a one-out walk to Smith in the third without allowing any hits until Ware led off the fifth with a single, and the Dragons took advantage of a miscue to extend their lead.
With one out, Ware stole second to get into scoring position.
One out later, Huff got Brock McGoogan to hit a grounder to third, but a throwing error allowed Ware to score to make it 4-0.
Huff allowed four hits and four runs in five innings of work, walking one and striking out four, but the Lions (3-4, 1-1) couldn’t muster any offense against Hodge.
The sophomore worked around a one-out walk to Connor Jones in the second after Ware threw out the Hamburg third baseman trying to steal second.
The Lions had runners at the corners with two outs in the third after Travis Huff and Nigel Lewis singled, but Hodge fanned Riley Griffith to end the inning.
Hodge worked around Toby Spurlock’s two-out single in the fourth thanks to a nice defensive play, as Hoof made a diving catch to rob Shannon Brennon of a hit.
“Charles is finally getting the rust off a little bit defensively,” Hammett said. “He’s been hitting the ball for us, but defensively, it takes awhile, and he made a super catch in left field.”
The sophomore then got another huge play made behind him in the sixth.
With runners at second and third with two outs, Brennon hit a fly ball to shallow right-center that had the makings of falling for a two-run single, but Cody Lee made a superb diving catch to again rob the Hamburg center fielder of a hit and preserve the shutout.
“Cody has been one of those guys that has really come on this year,” Hammett said. “He plays center field most of the time for us, and he made a great catch there. He’s done that all year for us, so he’s been a surprise. He continues to work hard and that’s paying off for us.”
Hodge then finished off the Lions by pitching around a baserunner in the seventh, retiring Lewis on a fly out to center to end it.
Ware went 2-for-3 with two runs scored for the Dragons, who were held to just four hits.
The Lions had hits from six different players in the contest.