Highlands squeaks past Elder

Junior right-hander Mitchell Jones struck out seven and allowed only three hits in six innings for Highlands Friday evening during a 2-1 win over Elder at Highland Hills Park in Fort Thomas.

Junior shortstop Jake Whitford drove in junior left fielder Brady Murray with both Bluebirds runs. The go-ahead RBI came on a one-out single on an 0-and-2 pitch with Murray standing on third in the bottom of the fifth.

Highlands, ranked No. 4 in the latest Enquirer Northern Kentucky area coaches' poll, improved to 9-5 and Elder fell to 3-2. The Panthers are ranked No. 4 in the Division I Ohio area poll.

Jones (2-0) fired one more scoreless inning before turning the game over to junior left-hander Lou Bunning for the save in the seventh. Jones walked only two and hit a batter with everything working from the first pitch he threw.

"Overall it seemed like most pitches (were working), to be honest," Jones said. "I was also dropping down to sidearm and even that seemed to be working. Our coaches just said great job. I threw the right pitches at the right times. All of them seemed to fall down for strikes. It was just a great day. It picked the right day to come."

Five of the seven strikeouts came during a six-hitter span from the fourth inning to the sixth when Jones caught two Panthers looking and three swinging.

"That was just the momentum of the team behind me," Jones said. "It was just a great overall win. I think the team overall got stronger as the game went along. It was just a great game overall."

The Panthers' only run came in the top of the third when Jones got a little wild, hitting sophomore catcher Matt Wellbrock with one out. Junior courtesy runner Nick Duke went to second on a single by senior left fielder Johnny Lammers and came around two score on consecutive wild pitches. Jones stranded Lammers at third with a comebacker to the mound and a fly out to right.

"I got a little too cocky after the first two innings shutting down a GCL school," Jones said. "But that's a great team and they'll do that to you. They'll take advantage of that. I settled down and let the team play the way it's supposed to."

Whitford gave the Bluebirds a 1-0 lead with a first-inning sacrifice fly that plated Murray from third.

Play of the Game: Whitford smoked Elder junior right-hander Greg Cappel's two-strike fastball the other way into left field for the game-deciding hit. The bending line drive flew just over the glove of a leaping junior shortstop Kyle Orloff to allow Murray to score his second run of the game from third.

"I think it was a high fastball, an up and away fastball," Whitford said. "My guys were in position to score and I just did my job. I put the ball on the barrel and made things happen. It was up and away, so I took it over shortstop."

Murray reached when Cappel hit him in the foot with his first pitch in relief. The left fielder stole second and went to third on a sacrifice by senior second baseman Evan Allen to set up Whitford.

View From the Bench: "The kid did a really nice job," Elder coach Mark Thompson said of Jones. "He kept us off balance, mixing three pitches in there.

"I told these guys championship teams find a way to win these kind of games. They scored two runs, one of them led off with a hit batter. That's a recipe for disaster. When you're facing a good pitcher, you're not going to have many opportunities. So you can't give them free passes like we did today. Both those guys did a nice job on the mound. They moved runners, they got a nice 0-2 base hit and he just took it to left like good players do. We just got beat."

WP: Jones (1-0, 7K's). LP: Cappel (0-1). Sv: Bunning. Hitting leaders: E – Guck 2-3. H – Murray 2 runs, Whitford 2-2, 2 RBI. Records H 9-5, E 3-2.